Arsenal suffer huge blow ahead of Liverpool game as key player ruled out of title race clash

Arsenal will be without a key player for their Premier League clash with Liverpool on Sunday, October 27.

Mikel Arteta's side already suffered a blow to their title ambitions when they played out a 2-0 defeat away against Bournemouth on October 19.

The Gunners currently sit third in the league trailing leaders Liverpool by four points heading into the match at the Emirates.

Arteta's side have been without captain Martin Odegaard since he suffered an injury while on international duty in early September.

His fellow key attacker Bukayo Saka was absent from Arsenal's defeat last weekend as he was nursing a hamstring injury he sustained while on international duty with England last week.

After the game, Arteta revealed he "didn't know" if the decision to send William Saliba off against Bournemouth was correct.

"The decision has been made, so that’s it," said the Arsenal [via Arsenal.com] boss when speaking in his post-match press conference last Saturday.

"I don’t know, it’s a split second decision you have to make, the striker is on his back," he added.

"Obviously, he doesn’t expect the ball and then suddenly it’s coming his way. He’s made a decision and that’s it, the referee has decided to give a yellow and then a red card."

William Saliba was sent off against Bournemouth (Credit:Getty)

Saliba will only miss one Premier League game - against Liverpool - and will be in contention to be selected for Arsenal's Champions League fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday evening.

Arteta's potential options at centre-back are limited, Jurrien Timber - who was not present in Arsenal's open training session yesterday - could fill in at right-back which would allow Ben White to shuffle into Saliba's position alongside fellow defender Gabriel.

However, this is still unclear given the fitness doubts surrounding Timber.

It has now been confirmed, by Sky Sports, that the club will not decide to appeal against the decision to send Saliba off against the Cherries after he was deemed to have pulled down forward Evanilson who was through on goal.

The France international was originally shown a yellow card by referee Rob Jones but this was upgraded to a red card after a review. There has been some debate about the decision as the two players were near the half-way line rather than near David Raya's goal but the decision stands.