Mikel Arteta has provide a worrying Arsenal injury update, with five key players set to be out for the visit of Liverpool.
Arsenal went into Tuesday night’s Champions League clash against Shakhtar Donetsk without both Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka as they recover from injuries, while Jurrien Timber did not make the bench for the second game running.
But there was also a fresh injury concern as summer signing Riccardo Calafiori was forced off with a knee problem in the second half.
The Italy international appeared to twist his knee awkwardly when he slipped on the pitch.
Initially the former Bologna man attempted to play on but eventually signalled to the bench had to be replaced by Myles Lewis-Skelly in the 72nd minute.
After the game, Arteta did not have much positivity about the situations involving Saka and Calafiori.
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“I don’t know because he (Saka) wasn’t able to train yet so that’s unlikely,” Arteta commented.
On Calafiori’s injury, Arteta was rather coy but explained: “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.”
An injury expert has suggested that the motion of Calafiori”s injury was more indicative of a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury – where a grade 3 tear would mean around 10 weeks out.
Four players look set to miss out on the Liverpool meeting through injury, while Arteta has a further defensive selection dilemma as William Saliba is sidelined through suspension following his controversial red card against Bournemouth.
The club elected against appealing his dismissal, which came as a result of bringing down striker Evanilson when he was bearing down on goal.
Ben White was substituted in the Shakhtar win but Arteta confirmed that it was not injury related and only because he suffered a yellow card.
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Topics: Mikel Arteta, Arsenal, Liverpool