Arteta Worried As Calafiori Joins Injury List Of Saka, Timber, Odegaard

Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta is worried about the spate of injuries after Riccardo Calafiori’s suspected knee injury in the Champions League clash against Shaktar Donetsk on Tuesday.

The Italian defender fell awkwardly in the second half of the encounter, and he was replaced by teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly.

The Gunners are currently battling with some sort of injury crisis, with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Juriel Timber, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Kieran Tierney out of action.

Despite the Gunners winning 1-0, Arteta is unhappy with Calafiori’s injury, leaving the club short of defensive cover against Liverpool on Sunday.

He said, “With Riccy, he had to come off because he felt something. I don’t know the extent of it but it’s not good news, it’s a bit of a worry.

“Very pleased with the result. Always difficult in the Champions League. We should’ve scored more in the first half and the second half I felt a bit of fatigue.

“Playing 60 minutes with 10 men (against Bournemouth) a few days ago is difficult. We left the game a bit open but we dug in for three points.

Arteta also revealed that Bukayo Saka is unlikely to feature against Liverpool after missing the last two games Bournemouth and Shakrar Donetsk.

He said, “I don’t know, he wasn’t able to train yet, so that’s unlikely.”

He boasted that the Gunners will be flying against Liverpool on Sunday despite a gruelling schedule of seven games in 23 days.

Arteta said, “We played two nights ago with players coming from internationals after flying from Brazil and many countries,” said Arteta, asked if he was concerned the fatigue would impact the Liverpool game.

“I was expecting a bit of a drop off. And the fact that we put so much in the first half and didn’t get the distance in terms of the scoreline, I think we paid a bit for that.

“Then we made life more difficult for us because we started to give the ball away in not the right areas and then it was more open. That didn’t help. But we now have four days. Believe me, come Sunday we’ll be flying.

“We’ll review, have a day off, then two days to prepare for the game. Sunday is far and we are more than comfortable that we’ll be in the right place.

“It’s always very great and important to win in the Champions League, we start tomorrow with the preparations and the place has to be rocking here against Liverpool and give us all the possible energy that they can.”

Arsenal have now won two out of their first three Champions League games this season after the opening day draw against Atalanta.