Arsenal reminded of William Saliba injury risk as rival defender 'out for months' in title blow

When Arsenal lost William Saliba at the end of the last season, the knock-on effects on Mikel Arteta's side were catastrophic and eventually ended hopes of a title arriving at the Gunners after 19 years. The Frenchman suffered a back problem in the Europa League defeat to Sporting CP which prevented him from returning to the team before the season.

This meant he missed clashes like the trip to the Etihad Stadium in which Manchester City took a firm hold of the title race. He was replaced by Rob Holding who has since left the club for Crystal Palace after performances at West Ham and Liverpool highlighted the gap between the starting and covering options.

As the new season has got underway, Saliba has played every single Premier League match for his side so far, including the opening three matches that saw Gabriel Magalhaes dropped to the bench for what football.london understood to be ‘tactical reasons’ and despite missing the previous French national call-ups with a toe issue. This has been mirrored by Tottenham’s brand-new defender Micky Van de Ven.

The Dutch international arrived in the summer from Wolfsburg and has been a critical part of the side’s early season charge to the table’s summit. That was until they lost at home on Monday night in a dramatic and confusing clash with Chelsea.

The game also witnessed Van de Ven suffer a serious injury to his hamstring. Suggestions are that the defender could be out for months rather than weeks and with Cristian Romero being sent off and missing the next three matches Ange Postecoglou has a serious problem at centre-half.

Were Arsenal to lose both Saliba and Gabriel, the ramifications of the current setup would be catastrophic. Although a starting back four of top-level players