Bukayo Saka was taken off against Sheffield United(Image: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

Latest Arsenal injury news as six players could miss Brentford with Bukayo Saka update expected

Arsenal injury news as the Gunners deal with major fitness worries ahead of crucial weekend in the title race

06 Mar 2024, 18:45 by Tom Coley · football.london

Just when everything was going so perfectly for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, reality hit back - and hard. Cruising on their way to equalling the club's biggest-ever away Premier League win on Monday night against Sheffield United, partial disaster struck. Although slightly allayed by post-match comments, the very threat of two significant injury scares was enough to strike fear into fans.

Both Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, who played a large part in the second and third goals at Bramall Lane, were taken off between half-time and the 65th minute, sparking worries moving forward. With the chance now at Arsenal's door to go top of the table, even briefly, there is an understandable eagerness to get their two key attackers ready once more.

Arsenal welcome Brentford on Saturday night, giving the squad four whole days of rest, with their two title rivals battling it out on Sunday afternoon. Any sort of result will leave them second at least for around 24 hours, and they could end the weekend top of the tree with ten games to go.

Saka and Martinelli will be central to anything that happens in the final two months of the season, and Arteta will be hopeful of having the pair back as soon as possible. Fortunately, Saka in particular could be in position to return immediately.

"Bukayo was feeling sick and he wasn't feeling right so we decided to take him off and bring Fabio [Vieira] in," the head coach said after the game on Monday. Having started the game and caused some concern when appearing to grimace after taking a shot in the first half, and talking to the club physio when walking down the tunnel, an illness is surely better than a muscular injury.

Martinelli is slightly more of a concern after taking a blow to the foot after halftime. He initially went down after looking to strike the ball on the edge of the box but continued for a brief period before once more dropping to the grass. "We had a little issue with Gabi Martinelli," Arteta said. "He had a little cut in his foot. We need to see how it is."

On that prognosis, it doesn't appear too much to worry about but given the Arsenal injury luck this term, it will remain a nagging doubt until Arteta addresses the press later this week. There was, on the other hand, plenty of good news from the trip to Yorkshire.

Vieira, Gabriel Jesus, and Thomas Partey all came from bench to make long-awaited returns as the depth to the squad looks set to improve at the right time. Jurrien Timber is also making good progress and has returned to team training, though Monday night was too soon for him to be involved.

We now await further updates on him. Given initial expectations of a return in March - and there being an international break around the corner - it would be a surprise to see him once again miss out against the Bees.

Another player that won't be featuring is David Raya. Now the goalkeeper with the most Premier League clean sheets this season, the on loan No.1 is unable to play against his parent club. It will leave Aaron Ramsdale to take up the gloves for the first time since the FA Cup defeat to Liverpool in early January.

He hasn't played a league game since the reverse fixture in late November. He could be joined by Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu as they continue to work towards a return, though neither player was included in the matchday squad against the Blades.

Meanwhile, Brentford have had a fitness boost of their own. Star attacker Bryan Mbeumo, who hasn't played since December through an ankle knock that saw him miss the African Cup of Nations, has returned to training. Brentford do have their own spate of problems though with Aaron Hickey, Ethan Pinnock and Ben Mee all out from the defence.

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