Arsenal to test Gabriel’s fitness ahead of Newcastle clash

Arsenal could be boosted by the availability of centre-back Gabriel for Saturday’s Premier League game at Newcastle.

The Brazil international, who was forced off with a knee injury during last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool, will be in contention to feature at St James’ Park, subject to successfully completing a training session on Friday.

Gunners head coach Mikel Arteta is also awaiting news on Ben White, who lasted the full 90 minutes against Arne Slot’s Reds but has not trained since.

William Saliba is in line to return to top-flight action following a one-match ban to ease Arsenal’s defensive issues but Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain sidelined, in addition to captain Martin Odegaard.

Speaking of Gabriel, Arteta said: “We have a training session today. If he can complete that he will be available.

“He hasn’t had any training sessions yet but if he’s able to do that today he will be available in the squad.

“Riccy and Martin are out definitely.

“With Ben, we don’t know yet because he hasn’t trained yet. He could not train, he could not get involved, so let’s wait and see if he’s available or not.”

Third-placed Arsenal have slipped five points behind leaders Manchester City after twice surrendering a lead at home to title rivals Liverpool on the back of a surprise 2-0 loss at Bournemouth.

The Gunners have the chance to cut the gap in the lunchtime kick-off against Eddie Howe’s Magpies, who have dropped to 12th place following a five-match winless run in the league which has yielded only two points.

“You want to be first, you want to win every game,” said Arteta. “We know the situations that we have to play with this season. But we are right in the mix.

“We know the tough challenge that we are going to face tomorrow but we are fully ready for that.

“The league position after nine games is very tricky, when you see the fixtures that they (Newcastle) had and some certain situations they’ve been through.

“They are a fantastic team, they are really well coached, they are super intense, it’s a great stadium to play in, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Arsenal return to Tyneside almost a year to the day since suffering a controversial 1-0 defeat after which Arteta branded the VAR decision not to rule out Anthony Gordon’s winning goal “an absolute disgrace”.

The Spaniard insisted he has moved on from the incident but gave little away when asked if the standard of top-flight officiating has since improved.

“It’s part of the past and part of the situation that happened,” said Arteta.

“You learn from it and you take a lot of positives as well and we’ve moved on.

“My intention is not that the comments worked. I have to say what I feel in the game. They (referees) are certainly trying their best.”

Arsenal, who progressed to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals with a 3-0 midweek win at Preston, travel to Inter Milan in the Champions League next week.

Asked if sidelined skipper Odegaard, who has not played since August, could feature at San Siro, Arteta said: “Now is the stage when he’s going to start doing certain work with us and let’s see how he deals with pain.

“He’s physically now at the level that requires him to compete.

“With the work rate and the hours he has put in, I would be surprised if the moment that he starts training with us you don’t say, ‘he looks ready’, so hopefully soon.”