Arsenal injury latest for Nottingham Forest as Mikel Arteta confirms massive boost

Mikel Arteta has confirmed the latest Arsenal injury news ahead of the game against Nottingham Forest (Image: (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images))

Arsenal return to Premier League action this Saturday when Nottingham Forest visit Emirates Stadium in a 12:30pm kick off. The Gunners won their opening two games without conceding but lost to title rivals Liverpool prior to the September international break.

Mikel Arteta also lost William Saliba to injury during that game which resulted in him pulling out of the France squad. The Arsenal boss has now provided a surprisingly positive update on his condition while later addressing the fitness of some other players.

When asked about the defender specifically during his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, Arteta said: "William trained today, so we have a decision to make."

This hugely significant news follows returns to training for Christian Norgaard and Ben White on Thursday after both players missed the last two games while the former is yet to even make his competitive debut.

Piero Hincapie also featured for the first time since joining the club from Bayer Leverkusen on deadline day after playing 180 minutes for Ecuador. Despite that, Arteta has confirmed he is available for the clash against Forest.

"Yeah he's ready to go," the Spaniard admitted. "He's trained two days with us, very successful at the end under Argentina."

The likes of Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus have already been ruled out with very different timelines provided on their potential returns. The latter duo are expected to be long-term absentees while Saka could be back later this month, but is not ready just yet.

"Bukayo is out," Arteta revealed. "Still out and he is trying to get back as quick as possible."

Saka suffered his hamstring injury nearly three weeks ago with a return against Manchester City towards the end of September a possibility.

As for Nottingham Forest, new head coach Ange Postecoglou has been handed an immediate injury blow with Ola Aina suffering a hamstring injury just ten minutes into Nigeria's World Cup qualifier against South Africa.

"We have a clean bill of health apart from (Ola) Aina," Postecoglou said. "He had an issue with the national team. He went for some scans, and we should get some information this [Thursday] afternoon." The results of those tests have now been made clear and it is a big blow for Postecoglou.

According to the Telegraph , the Forest right-back is set to be ruled out for the next three months with a return in December as the best-case scenario. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Nicolas Dominguez will also miss the trip to north London, but for very different reasons.

The former is ineligible to face his parent club after sealing a last-minute deadline day loan move to the City Ground. Dominguez meanwhile, is recovering from knee surgery that he underwent back in May.