15 players could miss Man Utd vs Arsenal amid Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli return decision

A total of 15 players could be unavailable for Arsenal's Premier League clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Both clubs are in the midst of varying injury situations with the Gunners facing a crisis in attack while their weekend opponents could have five defenders absent.

Ahead of the fixture, the two teams played in Europe with United held to a 1-1 drew in the first meeting of their Europa League tie against Real Sociedad 48 hours after Arsenal battered PSV 7-1 in their Champions League last-16 first leg.

Despite the fact Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli could not recover from injury in time to feature, Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard stepped up after a string of disappointing displays in the final third. With the tie basically won, and therefore a European quarter-final expected next month, there is no need to rush the duo back.

Early April is likely to be when they can both play again with Arteta's latest update, that arrived in late February, suggesting they have already been ruled out of this game.

Asked if they could be back after the March international break, he said: “I think so, but again, let’s see how they evolve in the next few weeks to make the right steps & then after that, they’ve been out for a long, long time, so we’re going to have to integrate them as well gradually.

“They are evolving well but they’re still a bit far. We have a meeting tomorrow to discuss where they are, especially Gabi, who probably has a chance before Bukayo to come in, but how soon that is, we’ll have to see how it evolves in the next week.”

Kai Havertz, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Jesus have also been declared out for this weekend's game and the remainder of the season with all three players having undergone surgery in the last two months. Meanwhile at Carrington, Ruben Amorim has seen several of his Man United stars pick up injuries.

Amad and Lisandro Martinez are two key players for his system who are unlikely to feature again this season due to ankle and knee injuries, respectively. Luke Shaw and Mason Mount have both been plagued by issues for some time and are therefore expected to remain unavailable for the weekend.

Though Patrick Dorgu featured in Europe on Thursday, he is serving a suspension after picking up a red card in the win over Ipswich Town last week. Manuel Ugarte and Harry Maguire are two others that have recently joined the list of absentees due to minor issues, and they are unlikely to return.

"[A] Small thing," he said earlier this week when asked about the severity of their problems. "So, we are being careful with them because, in this moment, we cannot allow us to lose more players for a long time."

Kobbie Mainoo is probably the closest to returning from a longer-term issue having missed the last few weeks. Altay Bayindir and Jonny Evans have also been missing over the last few games with a clear return date for neither being provided.

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