Liverpool gain boost ahead of Arsenal as £151m duo miss training

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Arsenal vs Liverpool: Mikel Arteta is sweating over the fitness of two of his key players this week.

While Liverpool are set to have two key starters out of action for this weekend’s clash against Arsenal, two of their best players missed training on Monday.

The Reds beat Chelsea at Anfield but it came at a cost. Diogo Jota’s suspected rib injury will likely see him miss out at the weekend. Already absent is Alisson Becker with a hamstring issue and Alexis Mac Allister was only fit enough to come off the bench following his international exploits.

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For Arsenal, it will be considered as more of a crisis. Having already lost to Bournemouth at the weekend, further trouble came with William Saliba’s straight red card - which is likely to rule him out for three games despite their attempt to overturn the appeal. He has been a fundamental figure at the back next to Gabriel and his absence is certainly Liverpool’s gain.

The same can be said for Bukayo Saka who missed training. A muscle injury ruled him out of their game with Bournemouth which was likely down to his unrelenting schedule that saw him feature in every game for club and country so far this season. Currently valued at £131m, Saka is undoubtedly one of the league’s best attackers and his absence will certainly tilt the odds in Liverpool’s favour.

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Arteta spoke ahead of their clash with Shakhtar Donetsk to give an update on both Saka and Martin Odegaard, who has missed the last eight games with an ankle injury. "They are closer. Both are progressing well," Arteta said on Odegaard and Saka. "Martin is not fit. With Bukayo let's see how he is with the training session later on."

Also absent from the weekend was last summer’s £34m signing Jurrien Timber. The Dutchman has missed three of their last five games with a muscle injury and was also not involved in today’s training footage, as shown by Sky Sports. On Timber, Arteta said: “We have to see how he deals with training with the whole group because he hasn't done that yet but he will be pretty close hopefully."

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