Arsenal missing six players for Aston Villa as Mikel Arteta issues update
Arsenal could be missing up to six players when they face Aston Villa.
Unai Emery’s side face the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday (5:30pm). And Mikel Arteta looks set to be without several senior players for the match.
Gabriel Jesus is the latest Arsenal player to pick up an injury. The Brazilian was stretchered off against Manchester United last weekend and reports suggest he could be out for the season with an ACL injury.
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Bukayo Saka and Ethan Nwaneri also missed the North London derby against Tottenham on Wednesday night, although teenager Nwaneri is back out on the grass. "He is good. He has started to do some work on the pitch already," Arteta said on Nwaneri. "He is evolving well, he is young, he is healing very, very fast so hopefully we can have him soon."
Riccardo Calafiori's availability is unclear. The Italian picked up a muscle injury last week and was not involved against Spurs.
"His thing is not too much but we need another day or two," Arteta said. "We’re playing every three days and 24 hours, which becomes really important because they’re not long-term injuries in that case, for example. We will have more understanding this afternoon."
Elsewhere, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White remain Arsenal's long-term absentees and are not expected to make their returns any time soon.