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Xhaka ‘a doubt’ for Man City v Arsenal as Arteta vows season won’t be defined by one game

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta says midfielder Granit Xhaka is a doubt for Arsenal’s crucial clash with Manchester City, and confirmed that William Saliba will again miss out.

Xhaka missed Friday’s 3-3 draw with Southampton because of illness and Arteta says he is still a doubt for Wednesday’s clash with their title rivals.

Saliba, meanwhile, is continuing to recover from a back injury sustained in Arsenal’s Europa League exit to Sporting CP.

“Granit has been out. Hopefully he’ll be able to train today but he’s still a doubt,” Arteta said.

“There’s not been a real improvement unfortunately on Saliba, so we’re still waiting. We’re still hopeful, but another week has gone by and he hasn’t been able to train with the team.

“At the moment we don’t have him. We are preparing the game without him and probably the next game will come too soon as well.

“We have to go week by week at the moment.”

Wednesday’s game could end up deciding the winner of the Premier League title come the end of the season, with Arsenal currently five points ahead of City – who have two games in hand.

But Arteta insists his side’s incredible season to date will not be defined by the outcome of one game.

“We knew from the beginning that City was the team to beat with Liverpool because of what those teams have done in the past few years,” he said.

“They fully deserve that credit and to be at the top. We wanted to close that gap as much as we could and we’re toe-to-toe with them.

“We knew we had to go to the Etihad, we know that after that we’re going to have five more difficult games.

“We know tomorrow night is going to be a massive game. Is it going to define the season? The answer is no.”

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