Newcastle United v Arsenal: Injury news as key player ruled out and could miss rest of the season

Arsenal will be hoping to build on their 3-1 midweek win over Chelsea against an in form Newcastle side who have won eight of their last nine Premier League matches. The Magpies have lost just once at St James' Park all season and will be looking for a repeat of last season's 2-0 win over The Gunners as they look to take a step closer to Champions League qualification.

While Newcastle sweat on the fitness of Allan Saint-Maximin and Sean Longstaff, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has ruled William Saliba out for the match due to his ongoing lower back injury. Saliba hasn't featured for Arsenal since picking up the injury against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League back in March.

"Not a lot of progress," Arteta said in his pre-match press conference. "He’s feeling better every day but he’s not been able still to have any activity around the first team so we don’t expect him to be with us."

There are fears Saliba could end up being out for the remainder of the season but Arteta is still hopeful that he will see the Frenchman back in action this month. "We are not there yet today," the Arsenal head coach responded when asked if Saliba would miss the rest of the season. "Because we’re always hopeful and players are pushing to play. If that’s the case at some stage we’ll announce it. But hopefully that’s not the case."It’s about the healing process. Pain-wise and the things he can do now off the pitch he’s in a good place. But we have to build that capacity to have the right impact, the right load and to be in good condition to play for the team."

Meanwhile, Arsenal defender Gabriel is a doubt after being forced off in Tuesday's win over Chelsea. The Brazilian will be assessed ahead of the trip to St James' Park.

"We will have to see tomorrow how he is," Arteta added. "But yeah he could not finish the [Chelsea] game so that was a big sign for us. We’ll have to see how he is tomorrow."