Four Arsenal defenders could miss Brighton game including £34.5m star
Arsenal take on Brighton & Hove Albion on the road in Saturday’s Premier League clash.
The Gunners have had a perfect start to the season with seven straight wins in all competitions.
They had a tough outing against Sunderland last weekend (2-0 win) and could face a sterner challenge against Brighton.
The Seagulls were the better side when the teams last met at the Amex Stadium, but Arsenal won 1-0.
Ahead of the game, manager Mikel Arteta could be without as many as four key defenders.
William Saliba is an obvious long-term absentee as he continues to recover from a back injury sustained at the World Cup with France.
Meanwhile, Cristhian Mosquera has been sidelined since the Aston Villa match with a muscular issue, and he has not trained since.
Ben White started the first six games of the season for Arsenal before suffering an apparent groin injury against Sunderland last weekend.
The Englishman was unsurprisingly absent from the final training session before the Carabao Cup third-round tie at Ipswich Town yesterday.
White and Mosquera look poised to miss Saturday’s encounter alongside Saliba. Piero Hincapie is also a big doubt for the South Coast trip.
The £34.5 million signing suffered a muscle injury before Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie and may not play any part against Brighton this weekend.
Hence, manager Mikel Arteta could be without four Arsenal defenders, but he could call upon the services of right-back Jurrien Timber.
Timber recently returned to competitive action against Sunderland after a nagging groin problem. He replaced White at the interval.
The Dutchman was excluded from the matchday squad against Ipswich, but his omission was purely a precautionary measure, as per Sami Mokbel.
It could be a back four of Timber, Ezri Konsa, Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori against Brighton.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
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