Mikel Arteta offers worrying Gabriel injury update ahead of Real Madrid clash | OneFootball

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted his concern as the Gunners lost both Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber to injury against Fulham.

Bukayo Saka made his long-awaited return from his own injury to net the winner in Arsenal's 2-1 victory on Tuesday evening, but fitness issues continue to plague Arteta's side at the other end of the pitch.

With Ben White ruled out and Riccardo Calafiori injuring his knee on international duty, Arsenal fans were horrified at the sight of Gabriel pulling up with a hamstring injury just 16 minutes into Tuesday's game.

Timber, who has only recently overcome a bout of illness, was then forced off late in the second half, leaving Arteta sweating over his defensive options ahead of next week's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid.

"We don’t know how they are going to be," Arteta said of Gabriel and Timber. "We will be assessing them tomorrow and understand better how we are with those two.

Timber limped off with a knee problem / Catherine Ivill - AMA/GettyImages

"If there are two players in this team who never want to come off, it's those two probably. Gabi felt something in his hamstring, we don't know how big that is.

"And with Jurrien as well. He already was struggling very early in the game. He managed to continue and at some point he couldn't. That's the downside. Jurrien was a knee [injury]."

While admitting his disappointment towards losing four defenders to injury in one week, Arteta insisted Arsenal have picked up plenty of experience when it comes to battling injury crises.

"The good thing is it's been like this all season," Arteta said. "You see [Gabriel] Martinelli today, we missed him for three months. You see Bukayo, four months. Kai [Havertz] four months, Gabi Jesus almost the whole season.

"How we have managed to be where we are with all those injuries... Ben White hasn't participated at all this season. It is what it is. But we want it so much that we're going to give it a real go. We lose four players in the defensive line in one week: Calafiori, Ben White, Jurrien and Gabi. We have still another four that they are so willing that they will do the job."