Premier League legend Alan Shearer says Arsenal are a ‘lesser team’ when key central defender William Saliba is not in the squad.
Saliba was forced off with an ankle injury after just five minutes in Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool last time out.
The centre-back then withdrew from the France squad for their World Cup qualifying matches against Ukraine and Iceland respectively.
Saliba is set to miss three or four weeks of action, French outlet L’Equipe have reported.
That means the 24-year-old could miss Arsenal’s games against the likes of Athletic Bilbao, Manchester City, Newcastle, Olympiacos and West Ham.
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Next up for Arsenal is a match against Nottingham Forest, who recently announced ex-Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou as their new manager.
Ahead of Saturday’s clash at the Emirates, Shearer told Betfair: ‘Saliba has been a big player for them for a while and they’ll be a lesser team for it unfortunately.
‘But you won’t get too much sympathy because of who and what they are, the money that they’ve spent and the squad that they’ve got there.
‘That happens to all the big boys when you spend a fortune. You’re not going to get too much sympathy from rival clubs.
‘There’s no doubt Saliba will be a big miss for Arsenal because he’s such a good player.’
Meanwhile, Shearer believes Postecoglou could help Forest win the Europa League this season after he replaced Nuno Espirito Santo.
‘There is a chance Ange Postecoglou could win back-to-back Europa League titles,’ Shearer added when asked about Arsenal’s next opponents.
‘Nottingham Forest have a good team and some really good players. They’ve recruited really well.
‘It’ll be really interesting to see how Ange Postecoglou has them playing because we’re aware of that really high line that he wanted to play at Spurs and it didn’t work and was one of the reasons why they finished so low in the league.
‘He did adapt in the Europa League final so it’ll be really, really interesting to see how Nottingham Forest approach the games in terms of their style.
‘There’s no doubt that Ange has to try and continue the good work that’s already been done and there’s no doubt that there’ll be big expectations because when you look at what Forest did last year and where they are now, you have to continue and grow that.
‘Ange is used to success. He’s had it at Celtic and despite everyone being negative a lot of the time, he had it at Spurs.
‘Albeit they were dreadful in the Premier League but he gave them the trophy they wanted and delivered as he said he would. Let’s see what he can do at Nottingham Forest now.’
