In the wake of the bad news about Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Arteta has provided some positive updates on Arsenal’s other injured players ahead of Wednesday’s north London derby.
Gabriel Jesus was Arsenal’s most notable injury setback against Manchester United on Sunday, but there were a few other injury concerns to arise on the day.
Before the match had even started, Arsenal confirmed that Riccardo Calafiori was out of the squad due to injury, with no word on how serious the problem was.
Mikel Arteta has suggested the injury isn’t long-term, though they need to keep assessing him ahead of Wednesday’s match.
“[Calafiori’s] thing is not much, but again, we need another day or two,” Arteta said. “We’ve been playing every three days and 24 hours becomes really important because they are not long-term injuries, in that case for example. We will have more understanding this afternoon.”
There were also injury concerns for Jorginho and Jurrien Timber, both of whom were withdrawn before the end of the United cup clash. But again, Arteta played down fears of anything serious.
“[Jorginho] was cramping when we were playing extra-time, Jurrien [Timber] was exactly the same, so we had a few players struggling to finish the game,” Arteta explained. “He’s fine.”
Question marks will remain over whether Calafiori, Jorginho, and Timber can be fit in time for Wednesday’s game at home to Tottenham Hotspur, with Jesus certainly out of the match.
Bukayo Saka, Ben White, Ethan Nwaneri, and Takehiro Tomiyasu are all expected to miss out on the game as well, as they work to return from longer-term injuries.