The Independent
·17 de febrero de 2026
Mikel Arteta allays Arsenal injury fears over Riccardo Calafiori and Ben White

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Yahoo sportsThe Independent
·17 de febrero de 2026

Mikel Arteta has allayed fears that Arsenal are on the brink of another defensive injury crisis after reassuring that Riccardo Calafiori and Ben White “should be available” for Wednesday’s trip to Wolves.
Left-back Riccardo Calafiori was withdrawn from the starting XI moments before Sunday’s FA Cup tie with Wigan Athletic kicked off with an unspecified injury, forcing Arteta to promote Bukayo Saka to the team from the substitutes’ bench.
In the second half, right-back Ben White pulled up and required treatment before leaving the field with a physio.
Both have seen their respective seasons hampered by injuries but Arteta has been able to provide a positive update on both.
"(Calafiori) is fine,” Arteta said. “He was training with us today, he is feeling better and hopefully he is fit for tomorrow.
"(White) was just a bit of fatigue, obviously he did a lot in the game and by the end of it he was feeling a bit of tightness in the hamstring, but he is fine.”
Arsenal have often had an extensive injury list this term and Sunday was no different, with Kai Havertz and captain Martin Odegaard also joining the likes of Max Dowman and Mikel Merino as absentees.
Odegaard is nearing a return from a knee problem and is in contention to feature in the north London derby this weekend, but Arteta confirmed that the trip to Molineux will come too soon, as is the case for Havertz.
He added: "For Wolves he is not going to be fit, but for Sunday we are very hopeful he can be with us.

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The trip to Wolves will come too soon for Martin Odegaard (Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)
“Kai is another one where the weekend is a possibility."
Arteta has admitted the club are investigating while injuries have been so prevalent for his side this season.
"Yeah, big time,” he replied. “They were very different. The first one was with Willi (Saliba) when he rolled his ankle against Liverpool. Then we had two incidents with Richy (Calafiorfi) in the warm-up in a really similar way.
"And the other one was with Bukayo (Saka), after he was rested in midweek and didn't play against Kairat, then against Leeds.
"It's very unusual. It probably happened once or twice, I think, in six years that I've been here and now it happened four times (this season).









































