During the presser, Arteta discussed a number of topics, including the Gunners’ Premier League title pursuit and the injury sustained by Gabriel Martinelli last weekend.
On the injuries to Gabriel Martinelli and Oleksandr Zinchenko, he said: “They are both out for the rest of the season. Gabi’s is a pretty nasty injury. We need to assess in the next week how long he will be out for but it will be at least weeks.”
When asked if Arsenal can continue to be title contenders every season, the Spaniard replied: “We have shown this season. We’re still there, with two games to go we can still be champions against probably the best team in the Premier League. We’re not going to bottle that for sure.”
And on the speculation surrounding Granit Xhaka’s future, Arteta added: “The clarity is there. He’s a player that has played nearly every minute since I’ve been the manager. He’s respected at the club with a great story around him. He’s a very important part of us.”
Arsenal head into the Nottingham Forest clash with basically nothing left to play for. Their 3-0 loss to Brighton last time out means that Manchester City are four points ahead of them with two matches to play and a game in hand.
This means we will all but certainly see Manchester City crowned champions this weekend.
As for Nottingham Forest, they have climbed up to 16th in the division but are still only three points from safety with a worse goal difference than current 18th-place side, Leeds United.
