Why William Saliba is missing from Arsenal squad against Brentford today

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·12 février 2026

Why William Saliba is missing from Arsenal squad against Brentford today

Gunners handed fitness blow ahead of crucial London derby

William Saliba is not involved for Arsenal against Brentford tonight because of illness.

Vidéos OneFootball

Saliba took part in an Arsenal training session on Wednesday but has been left out of the matchday squad for the London derby at the Gtech Community Stadium.

It is not yet known whether the Frenchman will be available for Arsenal’s FA Cup fourth round tie at home to Wigan at the weekend, but he may have been rested anyway.

Discussing Saliba’s absence, Mikel Arteta said: “This morning Wilo wasn’t feeling good so he’s ill, and he’s at home. Just short-term.”

In Saliba’s place, Cristian Mosquera comes into the heart of the Gunners’ defence, partnering Gabriel as Arteta makes four changes to the side that started the 3-0 win over Sunderland last weekend.

Piero Hincapie replaces Riccardo Calafiori at left-back, while Eberechi Eze is handed a rare Premier League start in the absence of Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres returns to the starting line-up.

“After the game that we played against Sunderland, Kai felt a little niggle, so we need to wait and see how long he is going to be out for,” Arteta added.

There is further good news for Arsenal as captain Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka are back in the matchday squad.

Odegaard missed wins over Chelsea and Sunderland with a minor muscle issue, while Saka has been struggling with a hip injury that forced him to pull out of the starting XI prior to the 4-0 win over Leeds at the end of January.