Arteta doubts Saliba will play again this season

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted he is unsure whether William Saliba will play again this season in what would be a huge blow to Arsenal’s title hopes.

Arteta confirmed on Thursday that the defender would miss Friday’s clash with Southampton and remains a major doubt for next week’s crunch trip to title rivals Manchester City.

Saliba, 22, started every one of Arsenal’s Premier League games this season before hurting his back in last month’s Europa League defeat by Sporting.

In his absence, Arsenal have dropped points against Liverpool and West Ham. The club remain cautious about rushing him back, despite Saliba’s willingness to put his body on the line to play in the title run-in.

‘We still have to wait a little bit more. He is not progressing as quick as we hoped. It’s a bit delicate and we want to be very certain when we push him that he is ready to absorb the load and the risk that we will take and at the moment that’s not possible to do,’ Arteta said.

 ‘It’s a bit early to know (if he will play again this season).

‘Probably next week we are going to have more certainty. There is some evolution, he is doing more activity, but he is not there yet to start to throw him on the pitch at the level that the sessions demand to compete in this league.’

Oleksandr Zinchenko has returned to training after missing last week’s draw at West Ham with a tight groin and Arsenal are hopeful he will face Saints, as they try to get their title tilt back on track.

‘I see a sense of revenge and determination to get even better,’ Arteta said. ‘This week I’ve had to stop them because they want it more and more, so let’s leave it for (Southampton) — that’s when we have to show it.

‘The way they talked, the way they communicated in the meetings we had. The discussions to understand how we move forward. It was all the right answers — they were clear on what we want, how we’re going to do it and why it’s taken us all the way here.’

Arsenal head to the Etihad on Wednesday knowing victory would take them a huge step closer to a first title since 2004.

‘We have to be perfectionists but at the same time we have to play with that flow. We’re not looking over our shoulders. We look forward, look in our lane and at what we can do.

‘After seven games we need a certain amount of points to be champions. What you are going to have is what you do every day, not what the rest do.’

The Spaniard also hit back at ‘unfair’ criticism of his players after they were slammed for ‘ignoring’ a young mascot ahead of the West Ham clash.

Arsenal came under fire after posting a video showing their players signing a shirt for eight-year-old Olivia Murray.

Arteta’s stars were accused of being ‘entitled, overpaid and rude’ but the girl’s father insisted the footage was just a ‘small window’ into her day.

And Arteta said: ‘You speak to (her) parents and they had the most amazing day. You’ve just seen a fragment of a picture — what happened before and afterwards, nobody saw and it’s not fair.’