Mikel Arteta must unleash unique Arsenal experiment against Southampton after quintuple injury update

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has issued a mixed quintuple fitness update ahead of Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final showdown with Southampton at St Mary's.

The Gunners head south counting the cost of a devastating international break on the fitness front, as no fewer than 10 players were forced to withdraw from their national team camps in March.

Eberechi Eze, Jurrien Timber, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Piero Hincapie and Noni Madueke were all sent back to London Colney for treatment, joining Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino in the medical bay.

Madueke's injury appeared particularly worrying, as the ex-Chelsea winger was seen leaving Wembley with his knee in a brace after England's 1-1 draw with Uruguay, and Thomas Tuchel claimed that he expected Madueke to be out for 'some days'.

Addressing the media in his pre-game press conference, Arteta revealed that the attacker's problem was "nowhere near" as serious as first feared, but he will still not make the trip to Southampton.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta allays fears over Noni Madueke injury

"No, it’s not," Arteta responded when asked about the severity of Madueke's concern. "It looked really bad, and Noni was really worried especially after what happened to him in his other knee a few weeks ago and he was out for six weeks. But no, he’s nowhere near that injury, so that was really good news."

The Spaniard also confirmed that Timber and Odegaard are both in contention to appear in the quarter-final, although the same cannot be said for Eze and Hincapie following their recent blows.

Eze sustained a calf injury against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, which will reportedly sideline him for up to six weeks, but Arteta could not put a timeframe on the playmaker's recovery.

"Ebz is out; with Ebz I cannot put a finger on it because I don’t know, because he’s a special character," Arteta added, before also confirming that Hincapie's issue was a severe one and would keep him out for an unspecified amount of time.

Merino (foot) will also be rehabilitating for several more weeks, while the statuses of Trossard, Gabriel, Saliba, Zubimendi, Rice and Saka remain unclear ahead of the weekend.

However, Arteta will be expected to rest his big-hitters ahead of the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Sporting Lisbon, thus offering opportunities to the likes of Max Dowman, Gabriel Jesus, Cristhian Mosquera and Myles Lewis-Skelly.

The unique Arsenal experiment Mikel Arteta must unleash in FA Cup

As none of Odegaard, Rice and Zubimendi have been definitively ruled out of Saturday's game, Arteta may be able to select his first-choice midfield at St Mary's, but it would be a shock to see the trio start in tandem.

Instead, the fully-fit Christian Norgaard and Kai Havertz should be given the nod in the centre, alongside Myles Lewis-Skelly, whom Arteta can finally experiment with in a midfield position.

The Englishman was due to start centrally against Wigan Athletic in round four before Riccardo Calafiori sustained an injury in the warm-up, and he was suspended for the fifth-round win at Mansfield Town owing to an accumulation of bookings.

However, if Arteta trusts two of Timber, Marli Salmon and Mosquera to start at centre-back, with Calafiori on left-back duty and Ben White on the right, there is nothing stopping him from unleashing the Lewis-Skelly experiment.