Mikel Arteta has issued an update on the fitness of our first team squad ahead of our trip to Molineux to face Wolves on Wednesday night.
Riccardo Calafiori missed out on our 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup on Sunday, pulling out of the starting XI after sustaining a knock in the warmup, but the boss eased any worries over a potential injury.
“He’s fine, he was training with us today,” Mikel said at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday. “He’s feeling better and hopefully he’s fit for tomorrow.”
Another potential concern coming off the back of our FA Cup victory was to Ben White, who had to be withdrawn in the second half of the tie, but like Riccardo, Ben avoided any lasting damage.
“It was just a bit of fatigue,” the boss reported, “obviously he did a lot in the game.
“By the end of it, he was feeling a bit of tightness in the hamstring, but he’s fine.”
While Riccardo and Ben will both be available to face Wolves, midfielders Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz won’t be fit in time for the contest, but could return for Sunday’s north London derby.
“No, for Wolves (Martin’s) not going to be fit, but for Sunday we’re very hopeful that he can be with us.
“Kai is the other one that again, for the weekend is a possibility, so looking forward to having him in the squad.”
As well as reporting on the team news for Wednesday’s game, Mikel was also asked about the spate of injuries we’ve picked up in pre-match warmups this season.
“They were very different. The first one was with Wilo when he rolled his ankle against Liverpool, then we had two incidents with Ricky in the warmup in a really similar way.
“Then one with Bukayo after he rested in midweek and didn’t play against Kairat and then against Leeds. He had that incident, very unusual.
“Probably happened once or twice I think in the six years that I’ve been here, and it happened four times there. So obviously we are looking into it.”
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