Why William Saliba is not in Arsenal squad against Hull despite injury return

The Frenchman has not played a minute this season, with his last competitive appearance coming in July in the World Cup semi-finals.

He has been out with a serious back injury since then, an issue that Arsenal have been extremely cautious with.

However, Saliba has made good progress and recently played 45 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

He was then named in Arsenal’s squad against Slavia Prague on Wednesday night, though he did not come off the bench.

Clubs are able to name more players on the bench in the Champions League than they are in the Premier League and Saliba was not selected in Arsenal’s matchday squad to face Hull on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that was not due to any setback, but rather a plan to get Saliba back up to full fitness.

He is set to be involved when Arsenal’s Under-21s host Villa on Sunday afternoon.

“He needs some minutes,” Arteta said.

“Obviously, the Champions League allows you to bring more players into the bench, but we believe that it’s the best thing to do, to play some minutes on the weekend with the Under-21s and then be fully fit for the international break.”

Arteta suggested on Friday that Arsenal would have been open to France naming Saliba in their national squad for the upcoming Nations League fixtures.

However, Zinedine Zidane opted against calling Saliba up and he will instead stay with Arsenal over the next couple of weeks.