The Italian media believe Riccardo Calafiori has a muscle injury, with details around the left-back’s fitness problem still hard to come by.
Riccardo Calafiori missed his third consecutive Premier League fixture at the weekend, but there’s still little clarity on exactly what problem he’s facing and when he might be back.
Mikel Arteta previously explained that the 23-year-old’s issue was “something he felt yesterday (December 26th), it’s something very awkward that happened and today in the warm-up, he wasn’t comfortable”.
But another week and a half has now passed with little in the way of updates. Ahead of the Bournemouth match, Arteta only confirmed that Calafiori was definitely out.
Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport have at least revealed the nature of the injury, claiming Calafiori has a muscle injury. But even they don’t seem to know when the defender might be back.
Arsenal have a run of games coming up of varying importance, with a key Premier League clash against reigning champions Liverpool on Thursday followed by an FA Cup third-round tie against lower-league Portsmouth on Sunday.
Arteta will presumably go strong in next week’s League Cup semi-final first leg away to Chelsea, before the Gunners take on 17th-placed Nottingham Forest that weekend. But with the chance to finally end the wait for a league title, it’s hard to predict exactly which game will be prioritised.
Ideally, Calafiori will be fit for the Liverpool game and rested at the weekend, but if he needs to be eased back in then one the other three matches might be better options for that.
Arteta should hopefully provide some kind of update during his pre-Liverpool press conference.