It was a decision Arteta later regretted, due to a setback in Mari’s recovery from an ankle injury.
“I feel really bad for William Saliba,” Arteta said last October.
“Because we had so many central defenders, we decided to leave him out of the squad which was really hurtful for me to do.
“I was hoping that Pablo would be back in two weeks but he had a setback and then we don’t have Pablo and we don’t have William when he’s fit and available to play, but when you make those decisions, you can’t always think about every possible outcome.”
