JAKARTA - Mikel Arteta said he was worried about Arsenal defender William Saliba's fitness after the French player added to the club's injury list by only playing for five minutes in a 0-1 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield, Sunday, August 31, 2025.
Dominik Szoboszlai's stunning free-kick in the 83rd minute - which Arteta described as a magical moment - won Liverpool. The Reds are also two points ahead at the top of the Premier League standings.
Arsenal responded well to the loss of Saliba and control the game without creating a clean chance, but Arteta's side are now facing a worrying wait for the 24-year-old, especially with Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz who have been sidelined by injury.
"He (Saliba) sprained his ankle while warming up. He came and was sure he could continue, but from his first two actions, you could see he couldn't survive, so we pulled him out."
SEE ALSO:
"We had to enter (Cristhian) Mosquera and it was a big test for him at Anfield, but he made a great debut," Arteta said after the match.
Arteta further admitted that he was worried about the severity of Saliba's injury.
"I was worried. When he couldn't play in a game that big, obviously something went wrong," said the Spaniard.
Meanwhile, Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya said that the Premier League's new Puma ball needed adaptations, but the changes were the same for everyone this season.
"This ball is different from Nike's ball, so we have to adapt. The handles are different, the results of the kicks are different."
"We just need to adapt after playing with Nike for years. It's the same for everyone."
"We showed a lot of characters to keep Liverpool from moving. We have to take the positive side. The margin is thin and the magical moment is from them."
"We have never lost to the top six clubs in many matches. There are many steps forward that must be taken and studied in every aspect. There are always things to learn," said Raya.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
