Saliba and Partey injury worry: Predicted Arsenal XI vs Leeds United

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Arsenal take on Leeds United in the Premier League this weekend, and William Saliba and Thomas Partey could both miss that game due to injuries.

The Gunners entered the international break eight points clear of Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s men face Liverpool in the early kickoff on Saturday, and if they drop points, we could potentially end the day 11 points ahead of them.

However, Arsenal have concerns of our own – Partey and Saliba are both huge doubts for the game against Leeds.

William Saliba and Thomas Partey injury concerns

William Saliba suffered what appeared to be a back issue during Arsenal’s game against Sporting Lisbon before the international break. However, Chris Wheatley has claimed it’s actually a hamstring injury that’s set to keep him out for two weeks.

The journalist told National World yesterday: “He has what we understand to be a hamstring injury. He’s not appearing for France while he recovers from that.

“Expect him to be out for a couple of weeks, he could be back sooner than that, but the initial prognosis is a couple of weeks.”

Thomas Partey, on the other hand, appears to have picked up a minor injury on international duty. He played the full 90 minutes for Ghana against Angola at home last Thursday but was an unused substitute in the return leg last night.

Ghana boss Chris Houghton said, as per Goal: “Thomas has some small injury issues. We felt it was too big a risk to start him.”

Arsenal sources told the outlet it’s not a hamstring issue and he should be fine for the game against Leeds this weekend. However, with the Liverpool clash coming up soon, will Arteta risk him? It’s probably best not to.

Predicted Arsenal XI vs Leeds

There are still 10 games left for Arsenal this season and it makes no sense to rush either Partey or Saliba back for a home clash against relegation-threatened Leeds United.

That’s why we’ve left both players out of our predicted lineup. Here’s what we think Arteta will go with:

Aaron Ramsdale is set to start in goal with a back four of Ben White, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhaes and Oleksandr Zinchenko. Jorginho will start in the middle of the park alongside Granit Xhaka, who will have to be slightly less adventurous in Partey’s absence.

Our front four is a predictable one – Martin Odegaard in attacking midfield, Bukayo Saka on the right, Gabriel Martinelli on the left and Gabriel Jesus up top!