Mikel Arteta: 'We are really short on numbers'

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted that his side are "really short" on numbers ahead of Sunday's FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest.

The Gunners have lost Nicolas Pepe, Mohamed Elneny, Thomas Partey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Africa Cup of Nations duty this month, with the latter recently contracting COVID-19 again.

Arsenal have also been dealing with their own coronavirus problems in recent weeks, and Arteta has hearts in mouths after hinting that his side have further absentees to deal with.

"I don't want to give anything away as you can imagine. We are really short with numbers. We want to play and that's how we are approaching every game," Arteta told reporters, as quoted by football.london.

The Gunners lost Eddie Nketiah to COVID-19 infection before the weekend's defeat to Manchester City, while their EFL Cup semi-final first leg with Liverpool was postponed due to an outbreak in the Reds' camp.