Mikel Arteta hopeful Gabriel will be fit to face Newcastle

Arsenal could be boosted by the availability of centre-back Gabriel for Saturday's Premier League early kick-off at Newcastle.

The Brazil international, who was forced off with a knee injury during last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool, will be in contention to feature at St James’ Park, subject to successfully completing a training session on Friday.

Gunners head coach Mikel Arteta is also awaiting news on Ben White, who lasted the full 90 minutes against Arne Slot’s Reds but has not trained since.

William Saliba is in line to return to top-flight action following a one-match ban to ease Arsenal’s defensive issues but Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain sidelined, in addition to captain Martin Odegaard.

Speaking of Gabriel, Arteta said: "We have a training session today. If he can complete that he will be available.

"He hasn’t had any training sessions yet but if he’s able to do that today he will be available in the squad.

"Riccy and Martin are out definitely.

"With Ben, we don’t know yet because he hasn’t trained yet. He could not train, he could not get involved, so let’s wait and see if he’s available or not."

Third-placed Arsenal have slipped five points behind leaders Manchester City after twice surrendering a lead at home to title rivals Liverpool on the back of a surprise 2-0 loss at Bournemouth.

The Gunners have the chance to cut the gap in the lunchtime kick-off against Eddie Howe's Magpies, who have dropped to 12th place following a five-match winless run in the league which has yielded only two points.

"You want to be first, you want to win every game," said Arteta. "We know the situations that we have to play with this season. But we are right in the mix.

"We know the tough challenge that we are going to