Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has claimed he is unsure if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be available for Sunday's clash against Chelsea at the Emirates.
football.london revealed earlier this week that star strikers Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette were doubtful, while Willian, Gabriel and Runar Alex Runarsson were all missing from the London Colney training ground this week.
All five players were absent from last Friday's defeat to newly-promoted Brentford, who beat the Gunners 2-0 in a poor showing from Arteta's men.
The Spaniard has now confirmed that he 'doesn't know' if any of those five players will be fit this weekend as the north Londoners host Chelsea, who they have beaten in each of the last three meetings.
"I don't know if they're going to be able to train a few hours or compete at the weekend. I don't know", Arteta said in his press conference when asked if the players that missed last week's clash would be available on Sunday.
"Still very uncertain. I cannot give you any answer because I don’t know. I don’t know if they’re going to be able to train in a few hours.
"Well, they had some tough days to be fair. Laca still hasn’t trained so he’s not been really good. Auba had a training session yesterday."
The Spaniard also admitted that he was surprised that the game was allowed to go ahead, claiming that he thought the match should have been postponed.
Arteta said: "Yes. I was surprised but the regulators decided that the best thing to do was not to postpone the game."
football.london understands that Brazilian starlet Gabriel Martinelli has been training as a centre-forward ahead of the clash against the Blues. Martinelli started from the left flank against Brentford as Hale End graduate Folarin Balogun played through the middle before eventually being substituted for Bukayo Saka in the 59th minute.
