Arteta has challenged his team to step up amid the absences and, before Saturday’s Premier League clash against Leicester City, revealed that star centre-back Saliba, 23, is willing to step up.
Saliba began his career as a forward at AS Bondy and was coached by Kylian Mbappé’s father, Wilfried. He dropped to centre-back as a teenager at Montfermeil and has played in the position since.
"Willy always says, ‘I’ll play as a striker, I’ll play,’ " Arteta said.
"Willy is so funny, straight away it was one of his reactions. It’s true as well that he played there. He used to score a lot of goals.
“But probably a lot of players played there when they were younger. All the options are welcome. We are going to have to be creative.”
I like this idea. We should hold more tryouts. Saliba wants a go, we’ve seen Merino already, and Rice could probably hammer a shot in.
So without Saliba, it’s MLS - Saliba - White/Timber - Timber/White?
Merino wasn’t really playing before this so he doesn’t necessarily need replacing
Rice is probably the one where we don’t have the personnel to replace him, unfortunately. He also needs a break :(