Mikel Arteta reveals new injury concerns for William Saliba and Leandro Trossard ahead of Carabao Cup tie | OneFootball

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has provided an update on injuries in the Gunners’ squad, revealing that the club could be without four key players for their Carabao Cup match this week.

The Gunners will face Chelsea in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final tie at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday 14 January, and Arteta disclosed new injury concerns over William Saliba and Leandro Trossard, while adding that Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori remain sidelined.

“Those two [Hincapie and Calafiori] are not available yet and the others that we have are Willie [Saliba] and Leo [Trossard]. Those two are a doubt,” explained the Spaniard.

While Arteta did not offer any more information on the nature of Saliba and Trossard’s issues, he did clarify that the club “don’t know” the results of Hincapie’s scan while providing more information on Calafiori.

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Saliba last featured against Liverpool on 8 January, sitting out the FA Cup win over Portsmouth (Getty Images)

“He’s progressing, but we don’t know. I think it will be a matter of a few weeks, probably, but we don’t know exactly when,” he said of the Italian defender.

Arteta also offered updates on the fitness of summer signing Cristhian Mosquera and youth talent Max Dowman, explaining: “Very similar injuries, very similar timeframes and both evolving really well. But they’re not training yet so they’re still a few weeks away.”

The Gunners have struggled with injuries throughout the course of the season so far, with Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and captain Martin Odegaard all experiencing extended time on the sidelines already this term.

And Arteta emphasised the importance of managing his players well towards the business end of the season, with the club still hunting trophies on four fronts.

“At the end, we have to try to manage the squad and individuals in the best way. I think we are sharing the minutes while we remain very, very competitive and that’s what we have to try to do,” said Arteta.

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Arteta will face Chelsea counterpart Liam Rosenior for the first time this week (Getty Images)

“The more you are involved in these kind of games, the better, because it gives you a nudge, it brings the team a different kind of energy.

“It gives you the sense that the objective is very, very close and that’s a massive motivation for everybody. So we know that we are two games away from playing a final. We have to go game-by-game and the first one is Stamford Bridge,” he added.

The Gunners face Chelsea in this week’s first leg before the return leg at the Emirates on 3 February, with the winner facing either Manchester City or Newcastle in the final on 22 March.