Mikel Arteta has had the international break to reflect on Arsenal\u2019s heavy defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion, but the pause has not simplified his plans for the Premier League return. Leeds United visit Emirates Stadium on Saturday, and the champions are expected to make several changes because of fitness concerns across the squad.<\/p>\n
The most significant absentee remains William Saliba, who is out for the long term with a back problem. Arsenal also lost Ben White to a groin issue during the win at Sunderland, though the right back is now expected to return after being seen in training images last week. Declan Rice, meanwhile, has been managed carefully after a demanding summer and recurring hamstring discomfort, and he should also be available for Leeds.<\/p>\n
There is better news in defence through Cristhian Mosquera, who has recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered in August and could come back into the side. If Ezri Konsa is not ready after his dead leg, Mosquera may be the natural option to line up alongside Gabriel. Jurri\u00ebn Timber is another factor at right back, although his minutes are being monitored after summer groin surgery.<\/p>\n
Arsenal\u2019s attack has taken the sharper hit. Kai Havertz and Christos Tzolis both picked up hamstring injuries while away with Germany and Greece, and both are expected to miss the next couple of weeks. That leaves Arteta with limited routes through the middle and on the left, where Eberechi Eze has not yet made a major impact. Noni Madueke could also be used there, while Viktor Gy\u00f6keres is the likeliest candidate to replace Havertz up front after scoring four in four for Sweden during the break.<\/p>\n
Max Dowman is available despite a contact injury and a red card for England\u2019s U-19s, while Bukayo Saka came through the break unscathed. With Rice and White expected back, Arteta can at least restore some structure, but the forward line remains the main concern heading into a difficult fixture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal expect several changes for Leeds United, with Arteta managing injuries across defence and attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,702,172],"tags":[1754,1836,242],"class_list":["post-21696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-leeds-united","category-epl","tag-2026-27-fixtures","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-injury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}