Arsenal duo William Saliba and Fabio Vieira have both emerged as fresh doubts for Saturday's Premier League trip to Bournemouth as the Gunners' injury crisis worsens.
Neither man was involved in Wednesday's EFL Cup third-round tie with Brentford, where an early Reiss Nelson strike sent the Gunners through to the next stage of the competition.
Saliba and Vieira initially appeared to have been rested at the Gtech Community Stadium, where Arteta unsurprisingly sent out a second-string starting XI amid his side's league and Champions League commitments.
Arsenal were already working without Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Thomas Partey, Gabriel Martinelli and Jurrien Timber for the midweek London derby, and Arteta has now delivered the worrying news that both Saliba and Vieira will need once-overs in the coming hours due to unspecified problems.
"William as well had a knock, Fabio as well wasn't involved in the last game, so we have to assess them today, see how they are and adapt to the situation because that's a big number," Arteta told his pre-match press conference.
"Let's see how everybody is today. Obviously they weren't selected for a reason and we need to assess them again today. They weren't fit enough to be in the squad."
While Timber (knee) and Partey (groin) are long-term absentees, all of Martinelli, Rice, Saka and Trossard are pushing to return before the international break, but Arteta revealed that none of the quartet had trained with the team by the time he faced the media.
"Declan wasn't available and had to leave the London derby. He hasn't trained yet. We have another session in an hour or two so we'll have more news about him today," Arteta added.
"Gabriel hasn't trained and we want him back, we need him back, but at the moment he's not been available. Leandro - same situation. Bukayo - same situation. They're all in the same pool.
"My hope is that everybody's fit and available because we need them with the amount of games that we already have under the belt in the past two weeks and what is coming in the next seven to 10 days. Yeah, we need them so hopefully today, we get some good news."
Should all of Vieira, Partey and Rice miss out on Saturday, another Premier League start will likely come the way of Kai Havertz, who is yet to endear himself to the Arsenal faithful since his £65m arrival from Chelsea in the summer.
The Germany international has gone eight games without registering a goal or assist for his new club, but Arteta has seen some 'exceptional' moments from the under-fire midfielder.
When asked how to get the best out of Havertz, the Spaniard replied: "Try to help him as much as possible. Be next to him, give him the tools, give him the confidence and give him the minutes to exploit his talent. There are so many parts of his game that he's doing exceptionally well and we know the one that needs to keep improving.
"But as always, with any player, it's about giving support - especially when you see a player that does what he does every single day and the way he tries, the way he applies himself. You give them support and more tools and if they don't perform, it's because of us.
"He needs to play within the team because the amount of time that he's played with these forward players is three or four times, and we're going to have to carry on doing that. We certainly try to give him as much support and confidence as we possibly can because that's going to help him for sure."
Arsenal head to the Vitality Stadium still unbeaten in the 2023-24 season, but by throwing away two one-goal leads in a 2-2 North London derby draw with Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, Arteta's men slipped to fifth spot in the table. body check tags ::
