Arsenal handed another injury 'fear' as William Saliba responds after France nightmare

The latest Arsenal news and opinion as we bring you some of the stories doing the rounds at the Emirates Stadium over the last 24 hours.

The second international break of the season is almost over which means Arsenal will be back in Premier League action soon.

The Gunners are challenging Liverpool at the top of the league after the first seven matches of the season, with Mikel Arteta’s men aiming to make it third time lucky in the race for the Premier League title. They have been pipped to the post by Man City for the last two campaigns.

Arsenal are one of just two clubs in the league yet to be beaten in 2024/25. Man City are the others, despite that, it is Liverpool who are top of the table having picked up 18 points, Arsenal and City are one behind on 17.

Arteta take his side down to the south coast at the weekend as they look to close that gap. Arsenal take on Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday (5.30pm kick-off).

While we wait for that game to come around, football.london have taken a look at some of the stories doing the rounds over the last day. We’ve also given our own opinion on the situation.

Arsenal injury ‘fear’

Arsenal full-back Takehiro Tomiyasu has allegedly suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury just days after making his comeback, it has been reported. TEAMtalk claim that Arsenal ‘fear’ that he could be back on the sidelines with a worry that he has suffered a recurrence of the injury that kept him out of the start of the season.

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If the report is true then he will be unavailable for the Premier League trip to Bournemouth when domestic football returns this weekend. How long he could be out for is unknown.

Tomiyasu made his comeback by playing the final six minutes of the 3-1 win over Southampton. He was left out of the Japan squad due to a lack of game time so far this campaign.

FL Says: If Tomiyasu faces another spell on the sidelines then it would be a blow to both the player and to Arsenal. Like the last international break, Mikel Arteta seems to have had rotten luck with injury concerns over a few of his players.

Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are both injury concerns after picking up knocks on international duty. Kai Havertz and Thomas Partey both withdrew from international duty.

The good news for Arsenal is that Jurrien Timber could make his comeback against Bournemouth after missing Southampton with a knock. If he is available it will soften the blow of potentially losing Tomiyasu again.

William Saliba nightmare

Defender William Saliba had an evening to forget when he lined up for France against Belgium in the Nations League on Monday night. The centre-back was selected alongside Liverpool’s Ibraima Konate in the centre of Les Bleus’ defence.

After 22 minutes he gave away a penalty and was booked after a sliding challenge on Luis Openda, although the defender did appear to slip in the process. Saliba was given a reprieve when Youri Tielemans missed the spot kick.

Just before half time, the defender gave the ball away and lost his man for Belgium’s goal to make it 1-1. Openda again caused him problems as the striker got on the scoresheet.

France did however go on to win the game, with Randal Kolo Muani scoring his second goal of the match in the second half. Saliba was part of a defence who were able to defend the lead despite France going down to 10 men after 76 minutes.

FL says: Saliba has been a standout for Arsenal since his breakthrough into the first team, so one poor half of football is probably not going to damage his confidence too much. The mistakes while in a France shirt emphasise the strength of the partnership he has with Gabriel back at Arsenal, he’ll be looking to build up a similar partnership with Konate on the international stage with the duo hoping to be mainstays in the France backline for years to come.

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