Arsenal have been handed a number of significant setbacks in the last two weeks ahead of their upcoming Premier League clash against Tottenham. The latest North London Derby will be contested at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Mikel Arteta faces a number of huge decisions in the build up to the clash.
In their most recent league outing against Brighton, Declan Rice was sent off and will subsequently be suspended. That major blow came just a few days after new signing Mikel Merino picked up a shoulder injury in training with his debut now unlikely to arrive until early November.
Club captain Martin Odegaard has since suffered an injury of his own which is expected, at the very least, to keep him out of Sunday’s game, the Champions League trip to Atalanta and the clash against Manchester City seven days later. With so many key players missing, it is certainly time for a number of stars to step up to the plate.
Bukayo Saka is Arsenal’s talisman and he will be needed again over the next three games with Arteta set to hand him a brand new role. Raheem Sterling may also be required sooner than expected with attackers like Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard also able to cover for absences in midfield.