Arsenal will be without Kieran Tierney, Cedric Soares and Sokratis Papastathopoulos for their Carabao Cup clash with Leicester City on Wednesday, while the likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Shkodran Mustafi remain long-term absentees.
Tierney was a late withdrawal from Mikel Arteta’s squad ahead of their 2-1 win over West Ham United on Saturday due to a left groin injury.
Arteta said after the match: ‘Kieran is fine. He had a little muscular discomfort in the last few days. He tried today and worked in the warm-up but he wasn’t feeling comfortable today.
‘We could not control it. We believed that he was going to be fit but during the warm-up, in the last 10 minutes, he said he wasn’t feeling OK.
‘We had to make a decision. We were prepared just in case and Kola [Sead Kolasinac] came on and had a good game.’
But despite it being a minor issue, Tierney won’t be ready for the clash with Leicester. However, he’s expected back in full training later this week.
Sokratis is struggling with a right calf problem but will also return to full training by the end of the week, while Cedric (tight calf) has returned to training but is being left out as a precautionary measure.
He hurt his right shoulder in training and while he is out of a protective sling, he will only be back in full training within the next 10 days.
Of the longer-term absentees, Pablo Mari is in line for a return to full training for the end of the month, having sprained his ankle ligaments against a clash with Manchester City in June.
Calum Chambers, who has been out since December last year, shouldn’t be far behind him. He is expected to return to full training in October.
Shkodran Mustafi, who injured his right hamstring in the FA Cup semi-final win over Man City in July, has had a successful procedure and has been on a running and strenghtening programme, with light ball work involved.
The Brazilian striker has had a successful arthroscopic procedure to repair a lesion in the cartilage of his left knee and has been undergoing a strengthening and recovery programme.
SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
