William Saliba is not expected to be involved for Arsenal against Leeds in the Premier League on Saturday as he continues recovery from a back injury.
The international was taken off early during the meeting with Sporting on 16 March and didn’t feature in the Premier League win over last time out before the international break.
The gap in the fixture list has not proved enough time for the centre-back to recover, missing training on Thursday.
With kick-off against Leeds at 3pm on Saturday, the report that the game will come too soon for the 22-year-old and he looks set to miss out.
The injury is not thought to be very serious, with hope that Saliba could return for the trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool on 9 April, although he is being monitored daily and there is no set return date yet.
With Saliba out, Rob Holding is likely to come into the team and partner Gabriel at centre-back as Takehiro Tomiyasu is out for the rest of the season with a knee problem.
Also set to miss the clash with Leeds are Mohamed Elneny and Eddie Nketiah, with the Egyptian expected to miss the rest of the campaign, but the English forward likely to be back for Liverpool.
Arsenal go into the weekend eight points clear at the top of the table, but Manchester City could have trimmed that lead by the time the Gunners take on the Yorkshire side.
City host Liverpool in the 12.30pm kick-off and can go within five points of Mikel Arteta’s men if they down the Reds.
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