'I think so' - Mikel Arteta hoping for double Arsenal injury boost against Fulham

Arsenal saw their Premier League title hopes take another blow on Wednesday night as they drew 0-0 with Nottingham Forest while rivals Liverpool beat Newcastle United 2-0 at Anfield.

The Gunners dominated the ball at the City Ground with 65 per cent possession and 502 passes compared to just 269 from the home side. However, just one of the visitors’ 13 shots hit the target while Forest tested David Raya twice with two shots on target with their six efforts on goal.

Since beating Manchester City 5-1 at the start of the month, Arsenal have failed to score in three of their last four games in all competitions. They lost 2-0 against Newcastle United in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final in a game that saw Gabriel Martinelli pick up an injury that has ruled him out since. They beat Leicester City 2-0 thanks to a Mikel Merino double.

The Gunners have lost Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus for the season and lost 1-0 to West Ham United last weekend before their goalless draw at the City Ground.

Arteta on Forest display

After the loss to the Hammers, Arteta was left fuming with the performance. However, he felt the performance against Forest was much improved but rued a lack of quality in front of goal.

He said: “Very disappointing not to win it. Today, the standards were very different to the previous game; the energy, the willingness to make things happened. We certainly tried many different ways, we dominated the game apart from one spell in the second half after one or two direct free-kicks where they had something in the box and one or two giveaways that allowed them to run, apart from that nothing.

“With the amount of situations we generated, with the moments we opened them up, we lacked the final pass, the quality on that delivery and certainly more shots on target to actually win it and be more efficient.”

He added: “We tried and adapting the quality that we have, how we can help the team to create different things, to have threats from different qualities, probably they are not about arriving in the box and creating some magic moments, they are other kind of players. Try to adapt to that and do the best that we can.”

Arteta gives update on Saka and Martinelli

While Havertz and Jesus will not return this season, Saka and Martinelli are expected back for the final stretch of games. Asked if he would get either player back soon Arteta said “I don’t know” but when pushed for a specific date he was more open to providing an update. Martinelli is ahead of Saka in his recovery but it remains to be seen if he can return before the international break.

Asked if they would be back against Fulham after the 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 and 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.”

He added: “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 or 10 days.”

Arsenal play PSV, Manchester United, PSV again and Chelsea before the March international break.