Saka, Martinelli, Gabriel: Arsenal injury news and return dates ahead of key Man City match

Arsenal travel to the Etihad on Sunday for one of the biggest matches of the season – and with so much on the line against Manchester City, Mikel Arteta will be hoping that he can call upon as many of his first-team players as possible.

That made the announcements that Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhães had withdrawn from their respective national squads due to injury all the more concerning. Will the Gunners be able to call upon them for what may prove to be the most important game of their campaign? We’ve got all of the latest injury news and updates below.

Bukayo Saka

One of Arsenal’s most influential players, Saka withdrew from the England squad due to a hamstring injury with the FA announcing that the 22-year-old “reported to St George's Park with an injury and was unable to participate in training.”

The issue is, however, not believed to be substantial and his withdrawal mostly precautionary. Saka has played through multiple minor injury problems over the course of the season and it is likely that Arteta will only leave him out if the injury worsens over the coming days. With no further updates from the club, it seems probable that Saka will be involved in at least some capacity against Manchester City.

Gabriel Martinelli

The Brazilian winger was surprisingly called up for his national side’s friendly games against England and Spain despite suffering a badly gashed foot during the recent match against Sheffield United, and ended up withdrawing as he wasn’t ready to play.

Martinelli missed the 2-1 win over Brentford before the international break and was seen on crutches at the Emirates that day. The club has not provided an official update on his status and it remains unclear what point he is at in his recovery cycle – but the fact that Brazil called him up in the first place likely means that they believed he was close to a return.

Gabriel Magalhães

Like his compatriot and namesake Martinelli, centre-half Gabriel left the Brazil squad at the beginning of the international break in order to rest what is believed to be a minor Achilles injury.

As with Saka, the move was believed to be precautionary and it is believed to be more likely than not that he is able to play on Sunday, but again the club have not offered a definitive update on his fitness.

Thomas Partey

Another player who chose to rest rather than play in his country’s international matches, the Ghanaian midfielder has come on as a substitute in the last two Premier League games but decided to focus on getting back to full fitness over the past two weeks having endured an injury-plagued season so far. He is expected to be able to play a full part this weekend if needed.

Jurriën Timber

The Dutch defender suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury at the very beginning of the season and was not expected to play again this season – but unconfirmed reports have circulated among London press outlet that he may be close to a return to action despite Arteta saying there were “not many updates” ahead of the Champions League win over Porto.

It is highly unlikely that Timber will be available to play against Manchester City, but there may be some chance that he features at the tail-end of the run-in after missing every match since he was hurt on the opening day of the season.