Mikel Arteta has confirmed injuries to Gabriel Martinelli and Piero Hincapie, following Arsenal’s penalty-shootout win over Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.
Ahead of Arsenal’s League Cup quarter-final on Tuesday, rumours suggested Piero Hincapie was a doubt for the game with a shoulder injury.
The centre-back had clearly picked up an issue during Arsenal’s win over Everton at the weekend, and though he completed the match, the suggestion was that he might be facing a short-term absence.
That was confirmed as Hincapie was left out of Arsenal’s squad to face Crystal Palace, and things got worse on the night as Gabriel Martinelli was substituted early with an injury of his own.
Speaking after the game, Mikel Arteta confirmed injuries to the two players, though he did add that the Martinelli one is also seemingly not that serious.
“Martinelli is more of a knock and he wasn’t comfortable to carry on after the second half,” Arteta said. “With Piero, yeah, something different because he picked up an injury against Everton.”
Martinelli and Hincapie join Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Kai Havertz, and Max Dowman on the injury list, leaving Arsenal particularly short at the back.
Havertz has rejoined first-team training and appears to be closing in on a comeback, but the Gunners really need defenders back too, with Hincapie and Gabriel probably the two closest.
Arsenal will be back in action on Saturday at 3pm, facing Brighton & Hove Albion in a Premier League game. So it won’t be long until we know whether Martinelli and Hincapie are in line for immediate returns.