William Saliba injury update: Mikel Arteta reveals next steps as defender misses Aston Villa draw

The centre-back was a surprise absentee on Saturday evening, missing out on his side's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa at the Emirates.

Arteta indicated ahead of kickoff that the club believed Saliba's injury was minor and insisted that he was part of a group that would be assessed to determine if they can play in their side's next match.

However, speaking about whether he knew anything more about the extent of Saliba's injury in the aftermath of his side's stalemate with Villa, Arteta was more pessimistic, saying: "No, not yet, I think tomorrow we'll have more and more information. Tomorrow they will have another test on him, and I will be more clear about it. With the numbers that we have in the squad and looking at our bench, [I am] very worried."

Saliba is among the Gunners' best players, and with the team already missing star attacker Bukayo Saka as a result of a hamstring injury, the possibility of Saliba being unavailable for an extended period could be devastating.

Can Arsenal's defence cope without Saliba?

Arsenal have dropped 12 points from winning positions so far this season in the Premier League, their most in a single campaign since 2019-20 when they finished eighth.

The Gunners' squad - even with their injury issues - is comfortably better than their team that term, but the club are quite clearly struggling to keep opponents from scoring more this season than they did in 2023-24.

Arteta's side conceded 29 goals in the entirety of their previous Premier League campaign but have already conceded on 21 occasions in 2024-25.

Arsenal have also failed to keep their opponents at bay in any of their past six games in all competitions, and are on track to keep 12 clean sheets in the top flight, six fewer than they did in 2023-24.

Saliba's absence could expose goalkeeper David Raya to even more shots and it would not be surprising if their defensive record was to deteriorate further.

Will Arteta have to buy a defender in the January transfer window?

January is a notoriously difficult time in which to strengthen, especially as many clubs would rather hold onto their key players to fulfil their own ambitions than accept reasonable offers.

Additionally, with news that Saka could miss a number of months and that Gabriel Jesus is set to miss the rest of the season, there is an argument that offensive reinforcement should be Arsenal's priority.

Forwards such as Alexander Isak are likely to be prohibitively expensive, while the Gunners could face competition for the signature of strikers such as Benjamin Sesko.

Though Arteta's squad is undoubtedly suffering in many departments as a result of injury, it is difficult to see how the Gunners can strengthen this month without enormous outlay.

Written by

Lewis Nolan