Arsenal were hit by a major blow as William Saliba limped off injured early in their Premier League clash with champions Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Saliba went down after an innocious clash with Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike and received treatment on the field, before being led off and down the tunnel. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta later revealed that Saliba had twisted his ankle in the warm-up, but tried to start the game before feeling discomfort.
Spanish centre-back Cristhian Mosquera replaced him in a major test for the 21-year-old against Ekitike, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo. Mosquera joined Arsenal this summer in a £13m transfer from boyhood club Valencia.
Liverpool eventually won a tight match 1-0 thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning free-kick.
The injury is the latest in a string of knocks for Mikel Arteta this season.
Bukayo Saka will only be sidelined for a “couple of weeks”, Arteta said this week, but the manager admitted it is a “big concern” that the England star has suffered two hamstring injuries in eight months.
Saka was withdrawn in the second half of Arsenal’s win against Leeds at the Emirates last weekend, and was absent for his side’s trip to Liverpool.
Saka missed three-and-a-half months of last season following surgery on his right hamstring in December. He returned in April and played 13 times before picking up another hamstring issue, albeit in his left leg, in just his second appearance of the new campaign.
“He (Saka) does not need surgery,” said Arteta. “It’s not as bad as the previous one. He felt something, so he will be out for a couple of weeks. But it is obviously a concern, a big one, especially when we talk about a sprinter and a player that gets into that zone very often in a football match, who needs that burst, that change of rhythm of pace to be as threatening as possible.
“But we will learn again as to why it happened and make him stronger. Unfortunately injuries are part of a career. He hasn’t had that many to be fair with the amount of games that he has played at his age but it is something that we want to eradicate.”
Arteta is already missing Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz while Martin Odegaard, Christian Norgaard, Leandro Trossard and Ben White have also been nursing knocks.
Havertz underwent what the club described as a minor surgical procedure on his knee this week. However, captain Odegaard was on the bench at Anfield despite falling awkwardly on his shoulder in the win over Leeds.
“It is very unfortunate, and very sad for him,” said Arteta of Havertz, who missed three months of last season with a hamstring injury. “He did tremendously well to recover from the previous one. He’s never had an injury before. And suddenly this happens.
“Obviously, we lose another big player for many, many weeks. But it was the right thing to do. The doctors advised and he was very convinced at the end that it was the quickest and the best way to resolve that issue.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal have agreed a deal with Bayer Leverkusen to sign defender Piero Hincapie on a season-long loan. Arsenal would have an option to sign the 23-year-old on a permanent deal at the end of the current campaign.
The Ecuador international’s expected arrival at the Emirates – the club’s eighth signing of the summer so far – could free up Jakub Kiwior to join Porto.
Additional reporting by PA
