Arsenal will once again need to turn to an emergency right-back for Saturday's Premier League trip to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Gunners are missing Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu through injury and have now lost Jurrien Timber to suspension – the yellow card shown to the Dutchman on Wednesday night. win over Brentford it was his fifth of the season and equals a one-game suspension.
That points to Thomas Partey's return to right-back on the south coast at the weekend, which has knock-on effects for other parts of the team by forcing the Ghanaian out of midfield.
Partey has already played at right-back this season several times in the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup. Versatile defender Riccardo Calafiori is another emergency option, but the Italian started his first game since November at Brentford – and it showed.
Arteta is already dealing with a season-long illness that has engulfed his squad, which was the reason for Kai Havertz's absence in midweek. The German appears to have been the worst affected, but the boss has revealed that others who were playing against Brentford were also suffering.
“She influenced the players on and off the pitch,” Arts said about the bug.
“It's nothing serious. But it wasn't an ideal situation. Regarding the symptoms, with Kai it was obvious. He didn't feel well at all. He had very clear symptoms to leave, put him in a car and go back to ( home).
“These things happen. In this period, things are always thrown at you, infections, viruses, so I try to postpone the formation as late as possible because you can get up in the morning and unfortunately have a surprise like this”.
Arsenal are next in action against Brentford on Saturday night before the first leg of the a Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle United next Tuesday.