Mikel Arteta faces a disaster of numbers for Wednesday’s EFL Cup semifinal first leg at Chelsea with William Saliba vulnerable to becoming a member of three different defenders on the sidelines at Stamford Bridge. Saliba missed Arsenal’s FA Cup third spherical journey to Portsmouth with what Arteta has now confirmed was a knock and, together with Leandro Trossard, was rated by his supervisor as a “doubt” to make the journey to west London.
Arteta has been identified to stitch the seeds of confusion over the standing of gamers earlier than key video games prior to now and it stays to be seen whether or not he would possibly certainly be able to return to the aspect. That the Arsenal supervisor mentioned that the accidents to each Trossard and Saliba have been “nothing critical” does at the very least provide hope that they is likely to be obtainable.
Arsenal might do with the latter provided that Arteta confirmed that each Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori won’t have recovered in time for the cup tie. Hincapie limped out of final week’s 0-0 draw with Liverpool and regardless of present process scans since then Arteta insisted he’s at midnight as to a return date for the Ecuadorian.
Viewing info: Chelsea vs. Arsenal
- Date: Wednesday, Jan. 14 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Stamford Bridge — London
- Stay stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Chelsea +200; Draw +220; Arsenal +120
Calafiori has been out since December 27 when he pulled up within the warm-up earlier than a recreation in opposition to Brighton. He’s “just a few weeks” away from making his return from an damage that he had suffered the day earlier than and which Arsenal initially thought-about asking him to play by way of. It speaks volumes on Arteta’s warning round damage updates that what precisely Calafiori has injured remains to be unclear, the supervisor saying it was “a muscle” when requested immediately.
The ultimate unavailable defender for the journey to Chelsea is Cristhian Mosquera although there was a extra concrete replace on that entrance. The middle again has been sidelined since a clumsy touchdown in a win over Brentford on December 3 however his restoration is progressing effectively, his progress again to the primary group at the same stage to younger ahead Max Dowman.
“Very comparable damage, very comparable timeframes,” mentioned Arteta. “Each of them did rather well, however they don’t seem to be coaching but, in order that they’re nonetheless just a few weeks away.”
Regardless of the accidents Arteta might nonetheless have the standard to area a robust again 4 even when Saliba is out. In these circumstances considered one of Jurrien Timber or Ben White might associate Gabriel with the opposite at proper again and Myles Lewis-Skelly on the left. Christian Norgaard might additionally slot into the middle again function the place he has began twice already this season.
Regardless of the lineup Arteta is intent on taking the EFL Cup critically. With out a trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 2020, the Arsenal supervisor is intent on placing the whole lot he has into profitable the trophy. There will probably be no repeat of his previous boss Arsene Wenger’s coverage of handing this competitors over to the youngsters.
“In my case we can’t try this as a result of clearly gamers must be obtainable to have the ability to choose them there,” he mentioned. “I do not consider in gamers for competitions. I consider that now we have competitors and we wish to compete in our competitors with the very best second of the gamers that now we have in our useful resource and that is what we attempt to do.”
Chelsea in the meantime will probably be with out the suspended Moises Caicedo. Reece James, Malo Gusto and Cole Palmer are additionally doubts after lacking the win at Charlton within the FA Cup, Liam Rosenior confirmed on Monday.
Predicted lineups
Chelsea XI: Robert Sanchez; Josh Acheampong, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Reece James, Andrey Santos; Estevao, Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto; Joao Pedro
Arsenal XI: Kepa Arrizabalaga; Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Myles Lewis-Skelly; Martin Odegaard, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli
