Mikel Arteta faces an anxious wait over the coming days as his Arsenal squad continues to deal with ongoing injury issues. With the visit of Liverpool just around the corner, the mounting problems come at a bad time.
Arsenal are looking to get back to winning ways domestically after falling to a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth last time out. The 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk unfortunately raised more questions than answers for several members of group.
Not only did Bukayo Saka miss the game having not trained the day before, Jurrien Timber was also absent again. Martin Odegaard remains out.
Liverpool themselves have some players Arne Slot will be keen to get back following their Champions League trip to Germany. The Reds beat RB Leipzig 1-0 on Wednesday night, so will have less time to prepare.
Here, football.london has the latest from the Arsenal treatment room with full injury news.
Riccardo Calafiori
Injury: Knee.
Calafiori was forced off with an injury during the Champions League clash at home to Shakhtar Donetsk after slipping in a challenge. Football injury analyst and physio scout, says: “Non-contact injury here which forces knee into valgus, but more of a slide injury rather than a direction change + pivot action.
“This would be more indicative of an MCL [medial cruciate ligament] injury, rather than an ACL [anterior cruciate ligament] injury. But integrity of the ACL still a MINOR concern.
“Physio was seen performing a valgus stress test too – which tests the structure of the MCL. Scans are necessary, but let’s hope it’s only a minor/moderate MCL sprain.” They add that a return timeframe is anywhere between one and six weeks depending on severity, with hope of it not being long after he attempted to play on.
Reports in Italy, from Corriere Dello Sport, suggest that he will only be out for several weeks. The issue is not described as being serious.
What Arteta has said: “With Riccy he had to come off because he felt something. I don’t know the extent of it but it’s not good news.”
Possible return date: Unknown.
Bukayo Saka
Injury: Hamstring.
Saka suffered a hamstring injury during England’s defeat to Greece in the Nations League last Thursday. There was hope he could feature against Bournemouth one week later, but Mikel Arteta made the decision to leave him out of the squad.
Despite Arteta suggesting he would be participating, Saka was not seen during the open training session on Monday afternoon. Following that, unsurprisingly, he was absent from the matchday squad to face Shakhtar Donetsk in Champions League action, with Arteta issuing a new update on Tuesday evening.
What Arteta has said: “At the moment I’m not very helpful. Let’s see. We still have a few days. He wasn’t able to train yet so that’s unlikely [playing vs Liverpool].”
Possible return date: Unknown.
