Mikel Arteta has issued a fitness update on our first team squad ahead of our UEFA Champions League clash with French side Lille.
Speaking at the Sobha Realty Training Centre ahead of Tuesday’s game, the boss confirmed that we’ll be without Piero Hincapie, who along with Martin Zubimendi, picked up an injury after our 2-1 win over Leeds United on Saturday.
“Well it happened,” the boss said, “we had a training session planned after the game for the players that didn’t have enough minutes to get everybody the recovery day on Sunday, and to get everybody in the right rhythm.
“In two very unfortunate actions, we lost two players, and yeah, not great. We need to assess them today. They have further scans to see where they are and they will have that time frame, how long they’re going to be out for.”
Both Piero and Martin took part in a post-match session on the pitch at Emirates Stadium after our fifth Premier League win of the season.
With Mikel describing the timing of their injuries as “less than ideal,” he was asked how such injuries can be avoided going forward.
“Very easy; don’t train. Never train, and they don’t get injured. That’s why the consequence to that is when they have to play, they have no rhythm, and when you ask them to play, they’re going to have no impact in the game.
“It never happened in seven years that I’ve been here. But what can you do? If I knew I had a crystal ball, I’d say, guys, go in the jacuzzi, everybody, and see you tomorrow. The temptation is that we don’t take that risk, and we’ll do something else, but we were going to do that anyway the next day.
“When you play these kind of small-sided games, there is contact, and these things happen. They didn’t happen once last season, and we did it 37 times I think it is.
“If we had to do this again, the way we planned the seven days that we had in that period with the players that didn’t have enough load, would it have been the case? The answer is yes, and it’s a sport of contact, and this can happen.”
Both Piero and Martin had been on the bench for the game against Leeds, with Piero coming on in the 80th-minute to help us close out the victory.
How long the pair will be sidelined remains to be seen, with scans to come for both players later today.
“They’re both going to miss tomorrow’s match, that’s for sure, and today they’re going to have a further scan and probably tomorrow we’ll know more.
“Then we’ll see how they’re going to go. Piero’s one looks a little bit more serious I think, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
On a more positive note, William Saliba was on the pitch doing individual training during this afternoon’s session as he continues to build towards a return to first team action.
Although there is still a way to go before Wilo’s return, the boss is feeling positive about the defender’s recovery so far.
“It’s over a week I think [he’s been on the grass], obviously we’re managing that load.” Mikel said on the Frenchman.
“He’s building now his capacity to good standards, and let’s see in the next few weeks if we can start to introduce him to the team to see where we are to actually make him available for the squad.
“We’re still talking about weeks, and when that happens, it’s very different whether he would play just before or just after [the November international break] because it’s a very specific injury, that the healing process I cannot tell you exactly how he’s going to react to.”