William Saliba update as Mikel Arteta explains Arsenal absence vs Brentford

Arsenal defender William Saliba misses the Premier League clash with Brentford in west London and Mikel Arteta has given an update

Arsenal defender William Saliba misses Arsenal’s clash with Brentford through illness, Mikel Arteta has confirmed. The Gunners are taking on the Bees in their next Premier League fixture, as they look to get all three points at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Saliba was a notable absentee from the Arsenal team that arrived in west London on Thursday night, with the defender taking part in training at the Sobha Realty Training Centre earlier in the week.

Arteta offered an update on Saliba’s fitness ahead of kick-off between Arsenal and Brentford, with the France international unavailable due to illness.

“This morning Wilo [Saliba] wasn’t feeling good so he’s ill, and he’s at home,” Arteta said. “Just short-term.”

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Arteta gave an update on Kai Havertz, too, who also misses out.

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“After the game that we played against Sunderland, Kai felt a little niggle, so we need to wait and see how long he is going to be out for.”

Arsenal faced a nervous wait to discover if Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard would be available to face Brentford on Thursday night.

Odegaard missed Arsenal’s win over Sunderland through injury, while Saka was withdrawn in the closing stages of the victory at the Emirates Stadium last weekend.

Arsenal were also without Mikel Merino and Max Dowman for the clash against Brentford.

Arteta decided to make four changes to the Arsenal team that beat Sunderland last weekend, with Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Jesus dropping to the bench, while Saliba and Havertz are not in the squad.

In their place, Arteta has introduced Cristhian Mosquera, Piero Hincapie, Viktor Gyokeres, and Eberechi Eze to the Arsenal starting line-up for the clash against the Bees.

Arsenal had a three-point lead going into the fixture against Brentford, with their initial six-point advantage halved after Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Fulham on Wednesday night.

The Gunners did have a nine-point lead after their win over Sunderland last week, but that was reduced to six after City claimed a 2-1 win away at reigning champions Liverpool.

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