According to a new report from LondonFootball.com, Arsenal are facing the challenge of a series of player absences ahead of the first round of the new Premier League season. This includes a number of the team's key players such as Saka, Rice, Ramsdale, David Raya and Saliba, who have each failed to return in time for pre-season training for different reasons.
Saka, Rice and Ramsdale are still on vacation and have yet to start preparing for the new season. As for David Raya, the goalkeeper who just won the European Cup with Spain, despite the accolades, he is still not included in Arsenal's roster for reasons that are not yet known. As for Saliba, although he performed well during the French team's Euro campaign, the team regretted going out in the semifinals, and he therefore failed to be included in Arsenal's U.S. tour roster.
The report further states that none of the players will be flying to the United States for Arsenal's tour, meaning they will return to their Colney base on or around August 5, just 12 short days before the first round of the Premier League match against Wolves. Such a timetable will undoubtedly pose a major problem for Arteta's line-up.
In retrospect, Saka also returned to Arsenal shortly before the start of the new Premier League season after the Euro 2021 final, and as a result against Brentford
of the game could only feature as a substitute. If Arteta continues with a similar strategy this year, Arsenal will likely be without key stars like Saka, Rice, and Ramsdale against Wolves.
Saliba, however, may return to training earlier than the rest of the squad due to his early exit from the Europa League. If all goes well, he is expected to return to London Colney as soon as Arsenal return home from their tour of the United States on August 1 to make final preparations for the first round of Premier League matches. However, even then, Arsenal could still be faced with a depleted squad for the first round of matches and Arteta will need to carefully deploy his available resources to meet that challenge.
