Forgotten Arsenal star set for crucial role vs Southampton amid double Mikel Arteta injury worry

Mikel Arteta has been handed three Arsenal injury twists in the last 48 hours that could hugely impact his thinking for this weekend's Premier League clash against Southampton. The Gunners put in an extremely professional performance earlier this week which saw them beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 in the Champions League.

Goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka in the first half at Emirates Stadium put Arsenal in complete control. Mikel Arteta's side were also hardly threatened defensively with Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba key in ending PSG's 51-game streak of scoring in every Champions League group stage match.

Summer signing Mikel Merino also made his long-awaited debut for Arsenal, though there were some negatives to emerge from the victory. One of those involved Jurrien Timber with the Netherlands international subbed off at the interval because of a potential injury.

"He was unbelievable in the first half, but he felt something muscular and he wasn’t certain," Arteta admitted after the game. "So I didn’t want to take any risks. He’s been out for a year and he’s played a lot of minutes, probably more minutes than we would have wanted in the past few weeks and we have to manage him."

Timber began the season at left-back but has been filling in on the opposite flank with Ben White absent because of a groin injury. Riccardo Calafiori has therefore started the last three games on the left with Gabriel Martinelli feeling the impact of his starting XI inclusion.

A return for White does not appear close though and with Timber now a major doubt to face Southampton, Arteta has a big dilemma. There are a number of options capable of filling in at right-back with Thomas Partey having the versatility to cover in that position.

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Takehiro Tomiyasu, given he can play all across the backline would be the perfect replacement but he has yet to feature this season because of injury. However, his potential return looks to have arrived at the perfect time with Arteta in need of defensive reinforcement and the Japan international spotted back in training on Monday.

Arteta has already had to adapt numerous times this season due to injury issues and that looks set to continue. The Arsenal boss may be reluctant to start Tomiyasu given he has missed the last two months, however he may be left with no other choice.