Latest Arsenal injury news as five miss Everton and Real Madrid with Bukayo Saka plan revealed

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has issued fitness updates on five players ahead of games against Everton and Real Madrid in the next four days. The Gunners have been hugely impacted by key absentees this season, with another injury blow arriving earlier this week.

Inside the first 15 minutes of the Premier League victory against Fulham, Gabriel Magalhaes was forced off with a hamstring issue that Arsenal have since confirmed will require surgery to fix.

A club statement read: "Further to being substituted during our match against Fulham on Tuesday, we can confirm that Gabriel Magalhaes has sustained a hamstring injury which requires surgery.

"Gabi will now undergo a surgical repair procedure to his hamstring in the coming days, and immediately begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme, with the aim to be ready for the start of next season." Following that news, Arteta has since provided his thoughts.

"Well it was a tough one to digest as we just got Bukayo back," the Arsenal manager admitted on Friday. "The team reacted like it has reacted all season. He's going to be out for a while." Jurrien Timber also picked up a problem early on and was later substituted, while Ben White missed out entirely.

Both are, therefore, doubts but Arteta has neither confirmed or denied whether the duo are able to feature at Goodison Park, but he did provide a definitive Riccardo Calafiori update.

"Let's see how Ben and Jurrien are tomorrow. Ricci is not fit as well," he said.

There was some good news on the injury front, however, with Bukayo Saka scoring just six minutes into his first appearance in over three months having also undergone surgery on his hamstring.

Asked if the England international is able to play 90 minutes, Arteta said: "Yeah, that's a possibility, we're going to decide tomorrow. We have a lot of pieces to move. It's a lot to decide." Given a Champions League knockout game is just a few days later, it's quite unlikely that Sakawill play the entirety of the clash with Everton.

As for other confirmed absentees, alongside Gabriel and Calafiori, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu will all be at different stages of their respective recoveries from surgery.

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