William Saliba suffered a hamstring scare in Arsenal’s win over Newcastle on Sunday, with the severity of the problem yet to be discovered.
The Gunners beat the Magpies 1-0 at the Emirates to almost certainly guarantee a second-place finish in the Premier League this season.
There were some sticky moments, with Newcastle creating a number of chances in the first half and David Raya forced into a string of good saves, but Declan Rice’s brilliant hit secured the win for the home side.
The bad news, though, was that Saliba had to be replaced at half-time, with Riccardo Calafiori coming on for the Frenchman at the break.
It wasn’t clear what the problem was at the time, but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confirmed that it was a hamstring issue picked up just before the half-time whistle.
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The centre-back will be scanned and until then, Arteta could not confirm if it is a serious problem or not.
‘I think one of the last actions when he was tracking back he felt something in his hamstring so we will need to scan and see how he is,’ Arteta told Stadium Astro.
Asked of the severity, he said: ‘I don’t know till we get the scan. Sorry, I don’t know.’
With Gabriel already out injured, Arteta could be set to field an unusual back four in the final game of the Premier League season if Saliba is now sidelined.
There is little on the line at Southampton on the final game of the season, with Arsenal set to finish second unless they are beaten by the Saints and Manchester City can overhaul a huge goal difference disadvantage over their remaining two games.
Kai Havertz returned from injury late in the game, coming off the bench for his first appearance since February when he suffered his own hamstring injury.
It has been a surprisingly swift return for the German, with Arteta saying: ‘Kai, I mean, he’s been incredibly fast in his recovery.
‘I think the doctors were a bit too easy, too early, but he’s been pushing it, and he thought he could help the team.’
Asked for his reflections on the season as a whole, which has seen Arsenal go without a trophy, but reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, Arteta suggested other clubs would have struggled much more seriously with the injuries his squad has suffered.
‘I know what we’ve been through for nine and a half months, I know what we’ve done,’ he said.
‘I know very well the history of this Premier League, and the teams that they’ve been, not in 70 per cent of the situations that we’ve been in, they have collapsed, completely collapsed. And we haven’t.
‘And I really value that, because that shows that we have built something that is very, very sustainable and consistent. Regardless, some people don’t like to see it.’