Latest Arsenal injury news as five miss Nottingham Forest after new Bukayo Saka message

Bukayo Saka has sent a new Arsenal message as he continues recovering from a hamstring injury (Image: (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images))

Mikel Arteta is expected to provide injury updates on four Arsenal stars during his pre-Nottingham Forest press conference on Friday. The September international break has concluded, and as such, focus will be turning back onto the Premier League this weekend.

Gameweek 4 kicks off at Emirates Stadium as the Gunners welcome Forest, and newly-appointed head coach Ange Postecoglou, to north London. The former Tottenham boss was confirmed as Nuno Espirito Santo's replacement earlier this week.

While he has not been given much time to work with the players now under his guidance, the one major positive is that the majority of his squad are available. Nicolas Dominguez is the only confirmed absentee, as he recovers from knee surgery that took place back in May.

It is a very different story for Arteta, meanwhile, with several of his players suffering injuries already this season. Martin Odegaard was one of those, but he swiftly returned to action the following week, albeit off the bench.

Knocks have kept both Ben White and Christian Norgaard out for several weeks, but both look set for returns to the matchday squad after being spotted in training at London Colney on Thursday.

A much more serious issue struck Kai Havertz with the decision made for him to undergo a minor procedure on his knee. The Germany international is not expected to miss an extended period, but it is unclear when he will be back, as confirmed by Arteta.

"I think it will be weeks, but I don't know how many months," he admitted. "Very unfortunate, very sad for him. I think he did tremendously well to recover from the previous one. He's never had an injury before. And suddenly this happens, but this is our profession, our football. We need to live with that.

"Obviously, we lose another big player for many, many weeks. But it was the right thing to do. The doctors advised and I think he was very convinced at the end that it was the quickest and the best way to resolve that issue."

Just six days later, Bukayo Saka also fell victim to a muscular issue, with the Gunners winger likely to miss a few more weeks after being omitted from international duty.

In recent days, he has been active on Instagram with a heartwarming message posted after celebrating his 24th birthday. He followed that up by reposting confirmation that he had won Arsenal's goal of the month with his strike against Leeds United.

(Image: Bukayo Saka on Instagram stories)

William Saliba could also be unavailable after picking up an ankle injury just before the action got underway at Anfield. "He twisted his ankle during the warm-up," Arteta revealed in his press conference just a few hours later.

"He came in and he said he believed that he could carry on and play, but straight away in the first two actions. I could see that he couldn't cope, and we had to get him out, unfortunately."

It is unclear when he will be able to return, but Arteta is set to provide an update on his condition just 24 hours before his side's clash against Forest. Gabriel Jesus is also still missing with a knee injury.