Five Arsenal players withdraw from international duty with injuries

Arsenal’s hopes of winning the treble could be set to be hit with a major injury blow.

It comes after five Gunners players – William Saliba, Gabriel, Jurrien Timber, Eberechi Eze and Leandro Trossard – withdrew from international duty on Monday.

Getty

Mikel Arteta had seen 20 members of his first-team squad receive call-ups for this month’s matches.

However, that number has now shrunk to 15 and it could add to Arsenal’s existing injury absences with Mikel Merino ruled out for the rest of the season with a broken bone in his foot.

Meanwhile, Martin Odegaard was left out of the Norway squad for their matches against the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Arsenal stars pull out

The five Arsenal players are now injury doubts, though, following their Carabao Cup final loss to Manchester City.

Eze has withdrew from the England squad to face Uruguay and Japan due to a calf issue.

The midfielder, who has been replaced in the side by Harvey Barnes, missed Sunday’s defeat at Wembley Stadium.

His Gunners teammate Ben White has also been added to Thomas Tuchel’s squad to replace ex-Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah.

Eze was not the only player missing against City, with Jurrien Timber also unavailable.

The defender has not played since limping off against Everton on March 14.

Timber had been named in the Netherlands squad to face Norway and Ecuador but has now been replaced by Sunderland’s Lutsharel Geertruida.

Reuters

Elsewhere, Saliba and Gabriel will both remain at the club during the international break, the centre-back pairing withdrawing from the France and Brazil squads respectively.

The duo had been set to meet in the USA this week as part of their sides’ World Cup preparations.

However, Saliba is now absent due to an ankle injury, whilst Gabriel misses out due to ‘pain in his right knee’.

Trossard is the fifth and final player to pull out due to injury, with the forward not travelling for Belgium’s matches against the USA and Mexico.

Getty

When do Arsenal play next?

Arteta will be hoping his injured stars can return to fitness in time for Arsenal’s next outing.

The Gunners face Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, April 4.

They then travel to Portugal for the first leg of their Champions League last eight tie against Sporting Lisbon.

Meanwhile, their next Premier League fixture is at home to Bournemouth in 19 days’ time on Saturday, April 11.

Shutterstock Editorial