Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will likely have to cope without William Saliba for Sunday's Premier League showdown with Liverpool at Anfield.
The French centre-back has missed the Gunners' last two top-flight matches with a back problem sustained against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League, and the trip to Merseyside is expected to come too soon for him to return.
Saliba is joined in the infirmary by long-term knee victims Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny, while Eddie Nketiah's ankle injury is proving difficult to overcome, and the Englishman will continue to miss out as well.
With Saliba sitting this one out, Rob Holding - who has deputised well for his colleague against Crystal Palace and Leeds United - can expect to link arms with Gabriel Magalhaes in front of Aaron Ramsdale once again.
Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko are shoo-ins for the full-back positions, and the same can be said for Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey in the engine room alongside captain Martin Odegaard.
Bukayo Saka was absent from a Premier League starting lineup for the first time since December 2021 against Leeds, but the attacker has now fully recovered from an illness and will no doubt force his way back in.
Arteta must therefore sacrifice one of Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus or Leandro Trossard for the Anfield encounter, although each member of the trio can feel hard done by to be dropped, especially with Trossard scoring a hat-trick for Brighton & Hove Albion on Liverpool's turf earlier this season.
However, with Jesus now fit and firing again and Martinelli hoping to cause Trent Alexander-Arnold a world of problems, Trossard will likely have to accept a spot on the bench here.
Arsenal possible starting lineup: Ramsdale; White, Holding, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Xhaka, Partey; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Jesus
> Click here to see how Liverpool could line up for this clash
Ben Knapton
