French-Cameroonian defender Saliba remains doubtful for Wolves clash as Arteta urges patience

Mikel Arteta says William Saliba is still battling an ankle-related problem and remains uncertain for Arsenal’s Premier League meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

The French-Cameroonian centre-back has missed four consecutive matches after completing the full game against Bayern Munich in late November.

Arteta explained that Saliba’s discomfort stems from an earlier ankle issue which altered his running mechanics and triggered further complications.

“It was something quite small. It came from an ankle injury he had and then it started to modify the way he was running,” the manager said. He added that the defender eventually felt unable to train or play at the required level, prompting the club to halt his workload.

The manager confirmed that Arsenal had not trained the previous day and Saliba had yet to rejoin the group.

“We have to wait and see. Yesterday, we didn’t train, he hasn’t trained with us yet,” Arteta noted. He said the medical team would monitor Saliba during Friday’s session before deciding whether he could feature at Molineux.

Arteta maintained that the timeline for Saliba’s full return remains short, while cautioning against firm predictions. “It remains the same. If you ask me about the Everton game, I think he will be fit. For tomorrow, I don’t know,” he said.

Earlier in the season, Saliba was forced off after twisting his ankle during the loss at Liverpool in August. Arteta described that setback as “a really random and unlucky action”, later calling the current problem “bizarre”.

In his absence, Arteta has turned to Cristhian Mosquera, Jurrien Timber and Christian Norgaard to cover the right side of central defence.

Mosquera is expected to be missing for several weeks, while Timber continues to recover from a knock. Asked if Timber might return against Wolves, Arteta said: “It’s a matter of days. But whether it’s tomorrow or not, we’ll see.”

Arteta stressed the importance of physical and mental recovery as Arsenal seek a response to their 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.