Mikel Arteta cryptically hinted that one of his five stricken Arsenal forwards could make a surprise return against Sunderland on Saturday.

The Gunners have a plethora of attackers out injured, including Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Jesus.

Jesus has only just returned to first-team training this week after 10 months out with a knee injury and is not in contention.

But when asked about if the other five players are all unavailable for Saturday, Arteta said: 'I cannot confirm all of that, but you are not far (off).'

On whether they will all be back for after the international break, he added: 'Some of them, all of them I don't know. There are a lot of things that have to happen in the next two weeks, and everything has to be perfect, but I think we'll be very close with most of them to be in a really strong position.'

Arteta also suggested that Myles Lewis-Skelly's England squad omission could be a blessing in disguise.

The 19-year-old on Friday didn't make the cut for Thomas Tuchel's England 25-man squad for November's final World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Serbia.

The matches are dead rubbers after the Three Lions secured their World Cup spot last month.

Lewis-Skelly had made four successive senior England squads since earning his first call-up in March and has already earned five caps, including in their World Cup-clinching 5-0 win over Latvia in October.

However, the Hale End product has not started for Arsenal in the Premier League this season, Riccardo Calafiori having nailed down the left-back position since overcoming his past injury woes.

On whether Arteta or star man Declan Rice will speak to Lewis-Skelly after the disappointment, the Gunners boss said: 'Yes for sure, I think we are here to support and help each other and to give a good perspective of the situation.

'In the case of Myles when you look at his age, what he's already done, he's just remarkable. So don't look at the one moment what is happening for you because maybe it happens for the right reason and today you cannot see it.'