Mikel Arteta has revealed that Riccardo Calafiori and Jorginho will miss Arsenal’s clash against Crystal Palace. The Gunners will host Oliver Glasner’s side at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening as they both look to climb the Premier League table.
Crystal Palace will be determined to return to winning ways after holding Bournemouth to a goalless draw at the weekend. Despite going down to 10 men in the final moments of the first half, the Eagles managed to salvage a point at Selhurst Park.
As for Arsenal, they enjoyed a 4-0 win over Ipswich Town on Sunday. The north Londoners stormed past Kieran McKenna’s side at Portman Road, with Leandro Trossard relishing his new role as a striker.
The Gunners will be keen to narrow Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League, but they’ll have one eye of next week’s clash against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League semi-final. In the meantime, Arteta has been working hard to keep his players fit.
Speaking to reporters at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday, the Arsenal boss provided an injury update on Bukayo Saka. The 23-year-old winger was subject to a dangerous tackle from Leif Davis at the weekend.
“We have to wait and see how he reacts after the [next training] session, but it’s nothing too serious,” Arteta explained. “If we want to, I think he would have a good chance to play tomorrow.”
On Calafiori and Jorginho, the Spaniard claimed that neither will be back anytime soon. Arteta said: “Yes, Ricci is out, and Jorginho as well. For Jorginho, I think unfortunately it will be a few weeks.
“I hope so [to have him back before the end of the season], but I’m not certain. So we have to see how he evolves in the next few days, I would say a few weeks.
“So the doctor was quite cautious still about talking about any dates. So let’s see. The good news is that he’s improving, he’s feeling much better. It was quite a scary situation and he’s in a good place now.
“[With Calafoiri] well, three of the injuries, obviously they are impact injuries. One is a really bad twist. It could have been worse, to be fair. So now we learn many more things about the player and how we can be much more on top of certain situations to try to prevent them.
“But it’s true that the two main ones, they’ve been really unlucky and very little that we could have done differently.”
Arsenal will, of course, also be with Gabriel Jesus, who sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury back in January. The 28-year-old striker has since undergone surgery and started a rehabilitation programme, but he’s not expected to be back until October.
Kai Havertz suffered a hamstring injury during the Gunners’ warm-weather training camp in Dubai in February. The 25-year-old make-shift striker also underwent surgery on the muscle issue, before beginning a rehabilitation programme, which is expected to run into pre-season.
Gabriel Magalhaes pulled up during Arsenal’s win against Fulham at the start of the month. The club confirmed that the 27-year-old defender required surgery, ruling him out for the remainder of the season.
Last, and by no means least, Takehiro Tomiyasu remains out of action with a knee injury. He had missed the large majority of last season with a calf problem and he’s played six minutes this term.
Full Arsenal squad: David Raya, Neto; Myles Lewis-Skelly, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney, Jakub Kiwior, William Saliba, Ben White, Jurrien Timber; Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino, Jack Henry-Francis; Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka, Ethan Nwaneri, Raheem Sterling, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji.
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- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
