Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori are both in contention to return for Arsenal against Fulham this weekend, after missing Wednesday’s match against Manchester United.
Arsenal suffered a blow below kick-off against Manchester United on Wednesday, with news breaking that neither Gabriel Magalhaes nor Riccardo Calafiori would be fit to make the squad.
The two players were at least in attendance, but the Gunners had to rely on Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko filling in against Ruben Amorim’s side.
Fortunately, Mikel Arteta’s team came away with the three points anyway, with the other two members of the back four – Jurrien Timber and William Saliba – scoring the goals in a 2-0 victory.
The question now is whether Arteta will have to call on Kiwior and Zinchenko again for the Fulham match at the weekend.
Speaking after the Manchester United game, Arteta explained that it would have been a risk to play Gabriel, but he added that Sunday’s game is a possibility for the Brazilian and Calafiori.
“Gabi was a big risk to play today because he felt something against West Ham,” Arteta said. “Sunday is going to be a possibility, with Riccardo as well, let’s see how he reacts.”
At his press conference on Friday, Arteta was then asked about injuries and he replied, “We have a few. It’s matchday minus 2 so we have to modify a few players. Till tomorrow’s training session it’s very difficult to say.”
It’s encouraging at least that neither player has been ruled out of the Fulham match at this stage, despite the game being just a few days away. With any luck, that means their knocks aren’t too serious.
Arsenal had a similar situation in the previous game, with Mikel Merino and Thomas Partey both missing out on the squad to face West Ham United through injury, before returning for the following match.
Perhaps it’s simply a case of the Arsenal medical team showing an abundance of caution, knowing how congested the upcoming schedule is. If the team can keep picking up three points anyway, it was the right call not to take the risk.
Fulham will have a couple of absentees of their own, with Reiss Nelson ineligible against his parent club and captain Tom Cairney suspended.