Jurrien Timber appears unlikely to feature for Arsenal against Liverpool this weekend, with the player neither in training nor in the Netherlands squad for November.
In a blow to Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s game against Liverpool, Sky Sports News report that Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori, and Jurrien Timber were all absent from training on Friday.
Calafiori’s case is certainly no surprise, with Italian outlets suggesting he’s set for a few weeks on the sidelines with an MCL issue.
Saka is facing a race against time to be fit for Liverpool, with some optimism that he might make it back. But his absence on Friday suggests it will be a close thing.
Timber could also still return in time, but a further bad omen comes via the Dutch provisional squad for November’s Nations League internationals.
Even though the first of their November international is still 22 days away, the Netherlands have already excluded Timber from their squad list.
Hopefully, that’s just because Timber has struggled for consistent minutes so far, and Ronald Koeman would prefer to call up players who have a run of games behind them. Or perhaps he just wants to give the defender a break.
But it could also suggest that Koeman knows Timber won’t be fully fit.
With Calafiori out, Takehiro Tomiyasu suffering a setback, and Kieran Tierney still not fit, Arsenal’s options at left-back could now be further limited by Timber’s absence.
The Gunners do still have a couple of alternatives, with Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko fit. But Kiwior might be needed at centre-back with William Saliba suspended, and Zinchenko hasn’t played since his own injury.
