William Saliba injury fears sparked as Arsenal star taken off at half-time

William Saliba was substituted at half-time during Arsenal's Premier League match against Crystal Palace, with Cristhian Mosquera taking his place on the pitch. The reason behind Mikel Arteta's tactical switch remains a mystery for now, sparking new injury worries within the Arsenal squad. The Gunners entered Sunday afternoon's game without several key players.

Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz were sidelined due to knee injury recovery, while Noni Madueke and Gabriel Jesus were also ruled out due to long-term injuries. The captain's replacement in the side, Eberechi Eze, had already given the hosts the lead with his first league goal - against his former club.

The Gunners had a golden chance to extend their lead at the top of the table, given Liverpool had already been defeated 3-2 by Brentford on Saturday. Manchester City had gone a goal down away to Aston Villa at the same time as Arsenal's match with Palace.

It was Saliba's defensive partner, Gabriel, who entered the London derby as a doubt due to injury. Mikel Arteta claimed that the Brazilian had missed training after suffering a knock in the midweek victory over Atletico Madrid.

Neither he nor Bukayo Saka had been spotted in training pictures published by the club, but they were both named in the starting lineup against Palace.

Arteta would have been fearing the worst when a second goal was disallowed at a corner, having seen that Gabriel hurt himself by crashing into the post.

Fortunately, he was able to carry on and not leave Arsenal without either of their first-choice centre-backs for the remaining 25 minutes against Palace.

The Spanish boss did somewhat give away his pecking order at the back, with Mosquera given another chance to impress in place of Saliba, having done so earlier in the season when Saliba picked up an injury against Liverpool.

He does, however, also have Ben White and Piero Hincapie at his disposal, while full-backs Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber are also capable of covering central areas.

That would allow the likes of White, or Myles Lewis-Skelly, to return to the team.

Arsenal's next match is on Wednesday, when Brighton travel to the Emirates in the Carabao Cup.