William Saliba ‘ready to go’ as Arsenal travel to Prague

Arsenal's Kai Havertz and William Saliba during a training session. Pic: John Walton/Press Association.

Mikel Arteta says William Saliba “feels ready to go” and hinted the France defender could return in Wednesday night’s Champions League game against Slavia Prague.

Saliba is yet to feature for the Gunners this season after being forced out of France’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain due to a back injury that did not require surgery.

Arteta – who opened his press conference by sending his condolences to the family of Tenerife striker Jesus de Miguel, who died on Monday after suffering serious injuries during a Spanish second division match – said whether Saliba will play in Prague will be down to a tactical decision.

“Yes, he’s in a really good place,” Arteta said. “I think the process and the timings and the manner that the injury has been dealt with, and especially the feelings that Willie has been having along the way, they’ve been very, very positive.

“So his evolution has been as expected, which is not always the case. He feels very comfortable. He played 45 minutes in (a behind-closed-doors game) last week, and he feels ready to go. So whether we use him or not now is a matter of what the team needs.” 

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Teenager Max Dowman became the Champions League’s youngest player when Arsenal beat Slavia 3-0 at the Fortuna Arena last season. The two sides will meet again exactly one year to the day from that game.

Dowman is available despite serving a domestic suspension for his red card in last week’s Carabao Cup defeat at Fleetwood and Arteta reiterated both he and the 16-year-old had moved on.

“Well, it’s another year in his career, and he’s shown that every time he’s played with us, he has a lot to offer,” Arteta said. “So that would be now a matter of a choice from my side to pick him.

“That’s (the red card) a chapter that is gone. It’s a moment of learning from all of us, and we move on. And you learn from the not-so-good ones.

“When you see the kid, and today we spent some time together as well, talking about things in training. It’s always super positive.

“When you are 16, you have a different way of looking at things and treating things, and that’s what he brings to the team as well.” 

Slavia will equal the longest winless run – 23 games – in Champions League history if they fail to beat the Gunners, but Arteta said he was full of respect for Jindrich Trpisovsky’s side.

“I watched (the previous match) back twice. Tough, tough (game) because they are a really good team, extremely well coached,” the Spaniard added.

“A really, really competitive team, a great mindset, clear principles and concepts that they want to apply and the way they navigate you through the game. So we know it’s going to be a really difficult game.”