Arsenal have been warned that injury to William Saliba or Gabriel Jesus would see the side suffer a "massive drop-off" in form. It comes after an ideal start for the Gunners leaves them top of the Premier League after 13 games, putting them in the picture for a potential title push.
While it's early days, Mikel Arteta's men have been able to battle against a chaotic fixture schedule and injuries to overcome the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham at this stage. It's led to plenty of praise for the players from the Spaniard in an interview with Arsenal.com ahead of the Brighton clash in the Carabao Cup.
"They’ve dealt with [the fixture list] really well,” Arteta said. “I think we had a really good pre-season and we put the boys in a really good condition to face this fixture congestion, and they have responded extremely well, especially the way we play, which is really intense."
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However, with depth still being called into question, any key injuries could see further issues caused for the squad during such a busy period both before and after the World Cup. It has led to Rio Ferdinand warning Arteta about his two key players that may be a worry should they have a spell on the sidelines.
He told Vibe with Five: "Your most important player is Jesus or Saliba. If those players come out of the team, the drop-off from that level is massive.
"You could play Xhaka in Partey’s position and get through a couple of games, not a problem. But you ain’t going to get the same output from someone who comes in after Jesus or Saliba, you’ve got Nketiah or Holding coming in.
"I agree the control mainly without the ball, the way they controlled Chelsea, was unreal. It shows you the coaching that has gone in, the hard work from the manager and the ability from the players to take it on. Saliba was immense, he played really, really well. He stood out. Partey made it look easy in that midfield, dominated that midfield.
"Jesus did everything but put the ball in the back of the net. I just feel he needs to tweak his performance a little bit to be a goal threat in the box,. If he can do that with what he’s doing outside, at times he’s covering at left-back, it’s crazy."
Arteta will be hopeful that the pair continue to build on their impressive start to life at the Emirates Stadium as well as battling against any injury concerns as their unlikely title challenge gathers pace.
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