Arsenal have received bad news ahead of Wednesday night’s game against Chelsea, with none of their injured players passed fit and two new doubts to worry about.
Going into Mikel Arteta’s press conference for the League Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea, there were injury concerns around Riccardo Calafiori, Cristhian Mosquera, Piero Hincapie, and Max Dowman.
Though there was little expectation Mosquera or Dowman would return in time to face Chelsea on Wednesday, there was more uncertainty around Calafiori and Hincapie, with no clear timeline available for either player.
As a result, it was disappointing to hear Arteta confirm on Tuesday that Calafiori and Hincapie “are not available yet”.
Arteta revealed that Arsenal “don’t know yet” how serious Hincapie’s injury is, and that whilst Calafiori’s injury is “progressing”, they also don’t know yet when the Italian international will return.
“I think it will [be a] matter for a few weeks probably, but we don’t know exactly when,” Arteta said of Calafiori.
To make matters worse, Arteta added that William Saliba and Leandro Trossard are also doubts. The duo both missed the weekend game against Portsmouth, but it was believed at the time that they were both just resting.
Yet Arteta has now told the media “those two are the doubts (to face Chelsea), because they are not fit enough”. The Arsenal boss did at least add that the injuries were “nothing serious”.
As mentioned, Dowman and Mosquera were never believed to be in contention for this game, but Arteta did provide updates on the pair all the same.
“[Dowman’s injury is] very similar to Mosquera,” Arteta said. “Very similar injury, very similar time frames and both evolving really well but they’re not training yet so they’re still a few weeks away.”
With four players definitely out and two more doubts, Arsenal certainly won’t be taking a full-strength squad to Stamford Bridge. Arteta will hope he has enough to take a good result back to the Emirates Stadium for the second leg.