During Tuesday's clash against PSG, Timber was withdrawn at half time with Arteta revealing after the game it was because of a possible injury. "He was unbelievable in the first half, but he felt something muscular and he wasn't certain," he said in a press conference.
"So I didn't want to take any risks. He's been out for a year and he's played a lot of minutes, probably more minutes than we would have wanted in the past few weeks and we have to manage him." Timber was already covering for White at right-back and now Arteta may need to find a replacement for him to face Southampton.
Tomiyasu is the most natural fit, however there may be a reluctance to start him as he has missed the last two months and will likely only have had four training sessions. Alternatively, Arteta could revert back to a previous tactic and shift Thomas Partey out to full-back.
The Ghana international has started every Premier League game this season in a holding midfield role with Declan Rice, Odegaard, Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz just some of the options deployed ahead of him. Ethan Nwaneri is now also firmly part of the first-team and Arteta has another new midfielder to call on in Merino.
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