Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that William Saliba will miss Friday's Premier League clash with Southampton, as his back injury is taking longer than expected to heal.
The France international's breakthrough year at the Emirates was halted when he was brought off in last month's Europa League last-16 second leg with Sporting Lisbon at the Emirates Stadium.
Saliba has subsequently missed each of Arsenal's last four Premier League games, with Rob Holding stepping in to partner Gabriel Magalhaes in front of Aaron Ramsdale.
Without Saliba in the backline, Arsenal let 2-0 leads slip to draw with Liverpool and West Ham United in the past two gameweeks - the first time in their Premier League history that they have surrendered successive two-goal advantages.
Arteta addressed the media on Thursday morning ahead of the visit of Southampton, and he delivered the bad news that Saliba is not progressing as quickly as the medical team had hoped, and his chances of featuring in next week's top-of-the-table clash with Manchester City are slim.
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"Regarding William, we still have to wait a little bit more. He's not progressing as quick as we hoped," Arteta told reporters in his pre-game press conference.
"It's a bit delicate, we want to be very certain when we push him that he is ready to absorb the load and the risks that we take, and that's not possible at the moment."
When asked if Saliba's problem could potentially rule him out for the rest of the season, Arteta added: "I don't know, it's really early. Probably next week we will have more certainty.
"There is some evolution, he's doing more activity but he's not there yet to start to throw him on the pitch at the level that is demanded to compete in this league."
Saliba was one of four Arsenal players absent from the London Stadium last weekend, with Oleksandr Zinchenko joining the Frenchman, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny in the treatment room with a muscle injury.
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Zinchenko is understood to have tweaked his groin in Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Liverpool on April 9, and the Gunners labelled his absence "precautionary" in last weekend's clash with West Ham.
A recent report claimed that Zinchenko - who has been pictured in training this week - was on track to be fit for the visit of Southampton, but Arteta remained tight-lipped on the Ukrainian's condition and admitted that he is not guaranteed to return.
"We will see on that one as well, it is not certain. It's a muscular injury and he needs some time to heal, and we're not there yet," Arteta added on Zinchenko.
Having dropped four points in their last two games, Arsenal's lead at the top over Manchester City - who still boast a game in hand - now stands at four points before the title rivals lock horns at the Etihad Stadium on April 26.
While their hopes of Premier League glory have suffered a couple of damaging blows, victory for the Gunners on Friday evening would guarantee a top-four finish and a return to the Champions League for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign.
Ben Knapton
