Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes the simultaneous availability of William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Ezri Konsa is an opportunity for squad rotation.
Saliba has returned to training after recovering from a back injury sustained while on international duty with France. Meanwhile, Konsa, who was signed in August, has impressed in the starting lineup for the Gunners.
At a press conference ahead of the Champions League match against Czech side Slavia Prague, Arteta spoke about Saliba's condition.
He is involved, just like anyone else.
All the preparation has been done to measure all the loads and steps he needed to take to minimise this risk.
He is in very good condition. He has built the foundation we need, and now it is about giving him minutes.
A centre-back usually needs to be able to play 90 minutes, which is why we carried out all this preparation to get him to that point.
Arteta described having three top central defenders as a luxury and hopes it will help the team manage a congested fixture schedule.
I wouldn’t call it a problem. We can talk about problems that differ greatly from this one.
At the moment they are healthy and available, we have the opportunity to give players rest or load them up.
We will be able to deal with player overload much better than we have done.
The manager also highlighted the versatility of Ezri Konsa, who can fill in at right-back if needed.
Ezri, he can play as a full-back. I think his main position is centre-back.
He can play on the right or left, and William can do the same for the national team or here at Arsenal, and that will be something really positive.
