The crucial Premier League matchup between Arsenal and championship challenger Manchester City will take place without center-back William Saliba on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old has missed Arsenal's last five Premier League games due to a back ailment, and the Gunners have yet to record a clean sheet without him.
There is disagreement over Saliba's back problem's severity. Although the club's manager, Mikel Arteta, had acknowledged that things were not moving as swiftly as they had hoped, there were still remote chances that Saliba might be ready to play by Wednesday's likely title-deciding game.
However, according to The Athletic, Saliba won't be back in time for that match, and there are even concerns that the Frenchman's season might be ended altogether.
Saliba's back has not improved as much as anticipated in recent tests, and he is anticipated to miss the meeting with Chelsea on May 2.
Although Saliba's injury is not believed to be particularly serious, the short amount of time left in the season means Arsenal may have to finish the year without their defensive anchor.
Arteta has chosen Rob Holding to join Gabriel Magalhaes in Saliba's absence, with January acquisition Jakub Kiwior seeing just 14 minutes of Premier League action since Saliba's injury.
Takehiro Tomiyasu at right back and Mohamed Elneny in the middle have already missed games for the Gunners due to injuries that ended their seasons.
Granit Xhaka, a midfielder, was also absent from the weekend's match with Southampton due to sickness, but he is not anticipated to be out for very long.
Arsenal's Friday night 3-3 tie with Southampton didn't offer many encouraging lessons.
The Gunners were already behind when Carlos Alcaraz gave the Saints the lead in the first minute, and Theo Walcott added a second to make it 2-0.
Before Duje Caleta-Car restored Southampton's two-goal advantage, Gabriel Martinelli cut the deficit in half. However, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka scored late goals to give Mikel Arteta's team a point.
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