LONDON (AP) — William Saliba has returned to full training at Arsenal, 3½ months after his last game — in the World Cup semifinals for France.
Saliba has been out of action with a back injury that didn't require surgery but an extended period of rehabilitation, Arsenal said in July.
The center back took part in a training session on Tuesday, a day before Arsenal's Champions League match at Slavia Prague, and manager Mikel Arteta said in a pre-game news conference hours later that Saliba “is in a really good place.”
“His evolution has been as expected, which is not always the case” Arteta said. “He feels very comfortable. He played 45 minutes behind closed doors last week. He feels ready to go now, so whether we use him or not is a matter of what the team needs.”
Saliba hasn't played since being substituted during the first half of France's 2-0 semifinal loss to Spain at the World Cup.
Saliba has struck up an impressive, years-long center-back partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes that was key to Arsenal winning the Premier League last season.
However, despite his ball-playing qualities and excellent reading of the game, Saliba might not be rushed back into the first team.
That's because the man who has replaced Saliba — summer signing Ezri Konsa — has put in a slew of strong performances and Arteta might not be ready to break up that combination just yet.
One option could be to switch Konsa to right back, where he occasionally has played for former club Aston Villa and England. Arteta also has Jurrien Timber and Ben White as options at right back.
Asked if he saw it as a "problem" that all three center backs were now available, Arteta said with a laugh: "So far we haven't had that luxury. I wouldn’t call it a problem.
“We are going to have the opportunity to ... manage the congestion of the players in a much better way than we have actually done it.”
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
Arsenal's William Saliba, left, and Kai Havertz attend a training session in London, England, Tuesday Nov. 3, 2026, ahead of the Championsleague soccer match against Slavia Praha. (John Walton/PA via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters struggling with high prices and angry over the Iran war will decide Tuesday whether to drastically shift power in Washington in midterm elections that will serve as a referendum on President Donald Trump's second term.
Democrats were cautiously optimistic as they watched Republicans spend the campaign's final stretch pumping tens of millions of dollars into states and districts that Trump won handily two years ago. They're betting that discontent over Trump’s failure to deliver on his promise to tackle rising costs and perceptions that he's focused more on gilding the nation’s capital than their pain at the pump will depress Republican turnout and drive their own voters to the polls.
Republicans held out hope their money advantage would help stem the tide, but they were bracing to lose control of the U.S. House and fighting to hang onto the U.S. Senate — an outcome that seemed unlikely earlier this year, given a map widely seen as favoring their party.
Margins are tight in both chambers; one or two seats could tip the balance. Democrats need a net gain of four seats in the 100-member Senate to win the majority, and most competitive races are in historically red states. In the 435-member House, they need three.
More than 57 million people had already cast ballots as of Monday, with turnout surpassing the early vote four years ago in many closely watched states.
Trump, whose party has struggled when he's not running to turn out the low-propensity voters who've fueled his victories, has told voters to act as though he's running, even as many Republican candidates have kept their distance.
On Tuesday, he declared in a Fox News Channel interview that “everything's going good” and “inflation is solved” — even though consumer prices rose 3.6% in September from a year earlier, up from 3.4% in August, the Commerce Department reported last week.
“I think the results are going to be better than you think,” Trump said of the elections.
On Tuesday, Mark Barker, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, said Trump was top of mind as he voted. “I’ve just been following Trump the whole time. I really think he’s doing an awesome job,” said Barker, noting the president's promise of $5,000 for every U.S. adult if Republicans retain control of Congress, border policy and war in the Middle East. “Everything he's done has been outstanding.”
In Raleigh, North Carolina, 57-year-old librarian James Moore said he voted for Democrats to push back on Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts bill. “I’m paying more taxes. I’m paying more for my healthcare. I’m paying more for everything,” he said. “We need more representatives in Congress that are going to stand up to Trump.”
Trump's aggressive schedule had stops in the reddest states, including Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, underscoring his party's challenges.
Trump has made false claims about voting fraud, such as insisting noncitizens are casting ballots en masse. His administration has filed lawsuits in Alaska and California. Democrats fear interference and voter intimidation as his Justice Department threatens to prosecute local election officials.
Polling sites opened early Tuesday along the East Coast, with few disruptions. In New York’s suburban Westchester County, officials said an issue with machines accepting paper ballots was requiring ballots to be placed in emergency bags for later counting but stressed that they would remain secure.
The results will shape the final two years of Trump’s second term after the Republican-controlled Congress acted as a rubber stamp to much of his agenda. While Trump has proven adept at steamrolling efforts to rein him in, Democrats taking control of even one chamber of Congress would open the floodgates to investigations and possible impeachments. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and tech titan Elon Musk, a former top Trump adviser, are among possible targets.
An especially strong showing for Democrats would also boost potential presidential candidates, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. It could also complicate the paths of Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans who may be looking to turn their loyalty to Trump into momentum.
Republicans tried to buck historical precedent — a president’s party almost always loses seats during the midterms — with an aggressive redistricting effort aimed at creating a more favorable congressional map. But the plan may fall short as districts drawn in Florida and other states to be safely red may not vote that way.
Other Trump choices could prove costly. In Texas, Trump worked to oust longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in favor of scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton, setting the stage for an expensive race against Democratic nominee James Talarico, who Democrats hope may help them finally flip the state.
In North Carolina, Sen. Thom Tillis retired after clashing with Trump. The president's chosen replacement, former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, has struggled to gain traction against the Democrats' candidate, former Gov. Roy Cooper.
“Everything depends on turnout. If we turn out our voters, we win," said Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters.
The vast majority of Republican television ad spending in the general election, 88.1%, was spent in states and districts Trump won in 2024, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from media tracking firm AdImpact. That included more than $850 million on ad reservations in states and districts Trump won by 10 percentage points or more.
Only 35% of U.S. adults approve of Trump's performance as president, according to the most recent polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Most blame him for high prices as they struggle to afford gas and groceries.
What was once his strongest issue is no longer: 25% of U.S. adults say they approve of Trump's handling of the economy. Overall, about 7 in 10 say the country is heading in the wrong direction.
“The American people are angry. They want change,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who said momentum was on her party’s side.
In the Senate, Democrats have been most confident about picking up North Carolina and holding Georgia, where Sen. Jon Ossoff faces Republican Rep. Mike Collins. Other key battlegrounds include Ohio, where Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown is challenging Republican Sen. Jon Husted, and Alaska, where the Trump administration filed a lawsuit to block certification of Senate results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses the race, citing the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot.
Republicans hope they can hold seats in Iowa, Kansas and Maine and pick up Michigan, where Mike Rogers faces progressive Abdul El-Sayed — one of a crop of left-wing candidates who prevailed in Democratic primaries. El-Sayed's former primary opponent, Haley Stevens, upended the race by endorsing Rogers, renewing focus on tensions over Israel and the party's direction.
In the House, Republicans try to hang on to their narrow majority, as Democrats aim to flip seats in states Trump repeatedly carried, from Florida to Texas to Iowa.
Beyond Washington, 36 states are electing governors. Democrats hope to take over a majority of statehouses for the first time in two decades. Competitive races include those in heavily populated states such as Texas and Florida, plus reliably red states such as Iowa.
In Ohio, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign faced backlash for an ad featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother, who lost custody of Acton decades ago after her husband, Acton’s stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton as a child.
Trump’s final two years in office will likely be defined in part by who controls Congress.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, in line to make history as the nation’s first Black speaker of the House if his party sweeps to power, has outlined a 100-day agenda focused on lowering the cost of living and aggressively overseeing the Trump administration.
The Senate could emerge as a key backstop for Trump’s priorities if Republicans retain control or as a new power center for Democrats who could use it to halt presidential nominees and challenge the White House agenda.
The 2026 elections will likely go down as the most expensive in history. Republican committees have dramatically outraised and outspent their Democratic counterparts thanks, in large part, to money from Trump-affiliated groups and Musk. But at the candidate level, Democrats outraised Republican opponents.
Associated Press journalists Aaron Kessler and Ali Swenson in Washington; Cody Jackson in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; and Allen Breed in Raleigh, N.C., contributed.
Residents vote in the midterm elections at the Old Stone School in Hillsboro, Va., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
A Sheriff's Deputy and his dog inspect ballots at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Ballots are sorted on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in San Francisco.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Brad Girod holds his 14-month-old daughter, Genevieve, as he votes on Election Day during the midterm election at a polling place in the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
A woman votes at the Emery Heights Community Center, Tuesday Nov. 3, 2026, during the midterm elections in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A voting location is seen at the Greater Middle Baptist Church on Nov. 3, 2026 in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Kevin Wurm)
People cast their ballots at the polling place at the League for People with Disabilities in Baltimore on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A woman votes at the Emery Heights Community Center, Tuesday Nov. 3, 2026, during the midterm elections in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Samantha Pounder, of Washington, confirms her address with a poll worker while voting with her daughters Aya, 3, left, and Sade, 6, at the Emery Heights Community Center, Tuesday Nov. 3, 2026, during the midterm elections in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
People move in line to cast their ballots at the polling place at the League for People with Disabilities in Baltimore on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Voters cast their ballots at Public School 321 elementary school in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A volunteer places a "Vote Here" sign at the Brooklyn Museum in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Voters cast their ballots at the Brooklyn Museum in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A volunteer sorts "I Voted" stickers at the Brooklyn Museum in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A person walks to the City of Arlington South Service Center ahead of the polling place opening on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Josh Turek speaks during a campaign rally, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
People listen to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is running for reelection, outside an agricultural business as she makes a campaign stop, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Van Buren, Maine. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduces Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed during a campaign rally at Eastern Michigan University, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks to members of the media before sign-waving with supporters at the edge of Midtown Mall, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
People wait in line to cast their ballot at a polling location open for early voting at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Wasilla, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
