Reason William Saliba was dropped by Mikel Arteta despite training with first team

William Saliba was injured in the warm-up ahead of Arsenal’s defeat by Liverpool before the international break, but Mikel Arteta has provided a fresh update

Mikel Arteta has provided an update on William Saliba after the defender was omitted from the Arsenal squad for Saturday’s match against Nottingham Forest.

Saliba sustained an injury during the warm-up before Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Liverpool prior to the international break. He withdrew from the France squad and was anticipated to be out of action for a few weeks.

However, in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Arteta confirmed that Saliba had participated in that morning’s training session, hinting at the possibility of him starting the 12.30pm kick-off against Forest.

Despite this, the Gunners boss opted for a cautious approach by excluding him, with Cristhian Mosquera stepping in. “He [William Saliba] trained yesterday, but at the end of the session he wasn’t fully ready to start the game,” he revealed to TNT Sports.

Saliba suffered the injury during the warm-up ahead of the 1-0 loss to Liverpool a fortnight ago. Despite starting the match, he was forced to come off early, reports the Mirror.

Mosquera, a summer recruit from Valencia, replaced him off the bench and put in a solid performance at Anfield. He has been selected to start against Forest, ahead of Piero Hincapie, who signed for Arsenal on deadline day from Bayer Leverkusen.

The match against Ange Postecoglou’s Forest at the Emirates Stadium marks the first game following the two-week international break. Arteta recognises the need to rotate his squad in the coming weeks, with a busy schedule of matches ahead.

“The amount of games we play in the next 21 days,” he said. “It is finding that right balance by making sure everybody is connected.”

Eberechi Eze starts for Arsenal, having joined the club in a £67.5m move from Crystal Palace. “Very exciting there are different connections that the front three have not played together,” Arteta said.

“They can change with different abilities and, in my opinion, that can be very powerful.”

Arteta is pleased to see Postecoglou back in the Premier League, having replaced Nuno Espirito Santo at Forest just months after he was sacked by Tottenham. “I’m sure Ange will bring his own things. It is going to be different for sure,” he said.