Gabriel Magalhães set for late fitness test but William Saliba ruled for Arsenal against Newcastle

Mikel Arteta has provided update in the fitness of his defenders Gabriel Magalhães and Willam Saliba. 

The Gunners will travel to the St James Park in Sunday to face Newcastle United in their Premier League encounter. 

Arsenal could return to the top of the Premier League table if Manchester City fail to beat Leeds United. On the other hand, Newcastle United will hope to capitalize on defeat of Manchester United. 

Due to Gabriel's lack of fitness, Mikel Arteta is unsure whether either of his first-choice center backs will be ready for Sunday's match against Newcastle United.

The Brazilian defender, who was forced to leave the field late in our 3-1 victory against Chelsea on Tuesday because of an ankle problem, has been working hard to make sure he is well enough to go to Tyneside.

Mikel, though, thinks he'll have to make a decision on Gabriel Magalhães after William Saliba was also ruled out of the match between the second and third-place teams in the standings.

The manager discussed Gabriel in his pre-game news conference on Friday afternoon: “We’ll have to see tomorrow how he is, but he could not finish the game [against Chelsea] so that was obviously a big sign for us and we’ll have to see how he is tomorrow.”

Arsenal's Mikel Arteta also gave an update on Saliba's back condition, which has now prevented him from participating in our previous seven games. Mikel is aware of not hurrying him back before he is ready, but he thinks he can still contribute this season.

“He’s feeling better every single day but he’s still not been able to have any activity around the first-team, so we don’t expect him to be with us [at Newcastle],” Mikel added.

“It’s about the healing process. Pain-wise and with things that he can do now off the pitch, I think he is in a good place, but we have to build his capacity again to have the right impact, the right load and be in good condition to train and play for the team."

The Spanish boss admitted that the French defender isn't ruled out of the remaining five games for the Arsenal. 

According to Arteta, he remains hopeful that Saliba will play this season, he said: “We are not yet [ruling him out for the season], because we are always hopeful and players are always pushing to play but if that is the case then we will announce that. Hopefully that will not be the case.”