'Physically drained' - Mikel Arteta 'very worried' by Arsenal injury blow and makes new Liverpool claim

Mikel Arteta has claimed he is ‘very worried’ about the witness of William Saliba after Arsenal lost ground on Liverpool in the Premier League title race.

The Reds snatched a dramatic 2-0 win at Brentford, with Darwin Nunez firing a double in stoppage-time on Saturday afternoon. That moved Arne Slot’s side seven points clear at the summit of the table before Arsenal face Aston Villa later in the evening.

And the Gunners fluffed their lines as they threw away a two-goal lead and were held to a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium. Saliba’s void was felt in the rearguard, with Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu also among the defenders who were absent.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Arteta revealed he will learn more about Saliba’s issue today. The Arsenal boss said (via Football.London): “I think tomorrow we'll have more and more information. Tomorrow they will have another test on him, and I will be more clear about it. Yeah for sure, especially with the numbers that we have in the squad and looking at our bench. Very worried.”

Had Liverpool been held to a stalemate at Brentford and Arsenal defeated Villa, the gap between the top-two clubs would have been just two points. But now the Reds have clear daylight and a game in hand. Arteta believes that his Gunners troops were ‘physically drained’ against Villa and that is why they could not hold on to victory.

He added: “There are moments, obviously, they managed to do that. They made the subs, and the subs made the impact, and they managed to change the game. And in our side it was the opposite, even though, after conceding the two goals very close to each other, the danger was, because I knew how the team was, that we could go down here because we were physically drained.

“Suddenly, the team find another gear to go again and just put Aston Villa in there, in the box, and go and go again, trying to find the goal that we haven't been able to score at the end.”

Arsenal were denied a late winner against Villa after Mikel Morino put the ball in the back of the net. However, Kai Havetz was penalised for handball following a VAR review, with Morino’s shot ricocheting off the Germany international’s arm. But Arteta did not have any strong complains the Gunners were denied a last-gasp triumph. The Spaniard said: “I haven’t seen it enough, there was one angle it looks like the decisions made, that’s it. Incredibly proud of the team.

“I think it was an immense performance, immense. Against this team, what they’ve done, after playing three times in six days with the players having enough to change it. I cannot be prouder of that, very disappointed with the result obviously we cannot afford ourselves because defending in the way that we did for one of the goals especially it cannot be part of our game if we want to be at the highest level in this country because the rest is what can I ask the team to do against a very good side.”