Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Piero Hincapie, Riccardo Calafiori and Max Dowman are all unavailable for Arsenal’s upcoming Champions League clash with Inter Milan.
Hincapie – who joined Arsenal on loan from Bayer Leverkusen last summer – has been absent for the club’s last three matches with a groin injury.
Fellow defender Calafiori has not featured because the Gunners’ 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on December 23, forced to sit down out seven games in all competitions on account of a muscle problem.
Teenage sensation Max Dowman, meanwhile, has been out of motion since suffering ankle ligament damage in an Arsenal Under-21 friendly initially of last month.
While there are hopes Hincapie, Calafiori and Dowman could return to the fold before too long, the trio are yet to affix up with first-team training again – and all three have been omitted of the trip to Italy.
Nevertheless, facing the media this evening, Arteta revealed that Kai Havertz and Christhian Mosquera were each fully fit and available for Tuesday’s heavyweight group-stage contest on the San Siro.
Asked whether he had any further fitness updates to supply, Arteta replied: ‘No, that’s all.’
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The Arsenal boss reassured supporters that his side enter every match with the intention of ‘winning the sport’, no matter what number of injuries the squad are coping with at any particular moment.
‘It’s very particular for each game I’m afraid because every game has a special situation,’ he added.
‘The players are in several stages as well and, yeah, we are going to prepare the sport with the line-up and the finishers in the perfect possible manner to win the sport.’
Inter brought Arsenal’s unbeaten run in Europe to an end when the 2 teams met within the League Stage last season, with Hakan Calhanoglu scoring what proved to be the winner from the penalty spot.
However the Serie A leaders have since modified their manager and Arteta has been impressed with what he has seen from Simone Inzaghi’s alternative Cristian Chivu.
‘A really similar context to last yr. Obviously, where the 2 teams are in the meanwhile is a bit different,’ Arteta, whose side sit top of this yr’s League Stage, explained.
‘They’ve a brand new manager as well and I believe he has given them another things of their identity and the way in which they play.
‘But obviously we all know that they’re a brilliant competitive team, a team that’s dominating their league, and it’s going to be a extremely tough game.’
Asked concerning the ‘importance’ of Tuesday’s clash as a method of constructing momentum, Arteta went on: ‘Every game within the Champions League, when you’ve gotten the chance to realize something, you’ve gotten to grab it.
‘Tomorrow, we’re really going to should earn it against a top, top side. We all know that.
‘We prepare every game, obviously, to win it and it’s going to be the identical again tomorrow.’
It proved one other tough day on the office for Viktor Gyokeres on the weekend because the Gunners were held to a goalless draw away to Nottingham Forest within the Premier League.
‘I believe it goes for all of the number nines within the Premier League and the way difficult it’s to play in that position nowadays, with the physicality and the dominance of the centre-backs and the standard of them,’ Arteta said of Gyokeres’ struggles.
‘Also, the shortage of space as well in many of the times throughout the match for them to take advantage of.
‘But that’s about consistency, it’s about going again. We all know his work-rate, he’s really trying to present his best and we want to proceed to work.’
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