Arsenal host Crystal Palace to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon in what is a crucial clash at both ends of the Premier League table.
Mikel Arteta's side currently find themselves at the top of the table, five points ahead of second-placed Manchester City. Meanwhile, Palace find themselves 12th in the standings but the congested nature of the bottom half means they are only four points clear of Southampton in last place.
A run of 12 winless games meant that the Eagles decided to sack manager Patrick Vieira on Friday morning, with Paddy McCarthy to take over on an interim basis. Now, the Gunners' social media team may have inadvertently hinted that Oleksandr Zinchenko will be starting today's match by posting the defender in their matchday graphic on Twitter.
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Zinchenko played all 120 minutes of Thursday's Europa League clash against Sporting CP as Arsenal were eliminated from the tournament on penalties following a 1-1 draw on the night. Backup left-back Kieran Tierney has struggled for game time in recent times and if the Gunners' aforementioned social media post is anything to go by, it seems that the Scottish international will again be on the bench for Palace's visit to N5.
Another player unlikely to make an appearance is centre-back William Saliba, who was withdrawn after just 20 minutes against Sporting due to a lower back injury. The Gunners were set to assess the 21-year-old over the weekend to decide if he's available for the match against Palace, football.london understands.
However, a number of reports from France have since suggested these tests have confirmed that he won't be in today's matchday squad and could even be sidelined for the next few weeks. Saliba has started all 27 of the north Londoners' league games so far this season and his absence would be a major blow to Arteta and co.
Injury insider, "Leaked Lineups", has since echoed these reports, claiming that the former Marseille loanee will be replaced by youngster Reuell Walters in today's squad. Takehiro Tomiyasu will also miss the game against Palace as well after he also came off injured just nine minutes into the game against Sporting.
The Japanese international left the Emirates on crutches, with Arteta describing his injury as a "serious" one.
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