Arsenal are sweating over the fitness of Emile Smith Rowe for this weekend's Premier League clash against Norwich at the Emirates.
Though the 21-year-old is not officially ruled out of the game, Mikel Arteta revealed on Thursday that his player currently has an illness, while the club would assess him fully before the 3pm kickoff.
At the moment, it seems like he will be unavailable.
It will be a blow if Smith Rowe is missing as Arsenal need a victory more than any other team in the division this weekend, having lost all three of their opening games in the 2021/22 campaign, conceding nine and scoring zero.
If the Gunners are not able to claim all three points against newly-promoted Norwich, it may spell the end for Arteta even at this very, very early stage of the season.
Bernd Leno should start in goal, probably in front of a back four of Calum Chambers, Ben White, Gabriel and Kieran Tierney.
White and Gabriel have both been missing recently, White due to Covid isolation, but both featured in a recent friendly against Brentford over the international break.
New right-back signing Takehiro Tomiyasu is available to play after being granted a work permit, but that only happened on Thursday so it may be too soon for him to be thrown straight into the starting XI.
Granit Xhaka has Covid but will miss three matches due to a suspension anyway, while Mohamed Elneny has also tested positive.
Thomas Partey may not be 100% fit but he will need to come in to partner Albert Sambi Lokonga.
Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Nicolas Pepe could feature in the attacking midfield roles with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leading the line.
Potential Arsenal XI v Norwich
