Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update on Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori ahead of Arsenal’s trip to face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
Arsenal made it four league wins in a row in midweek with an emphatic 4-1 win over fellow title contenders Aston Villa.
And the Gunners now have the luxury of a four-point lead at the top of the table after Manchester City’s stalemate draw with Sunderland on Thursday evening.
Arsenal have welcomed back key players in recent gameweeks, most notably Gabriel Magalhaes, who got the opening goal against Villa and resumed his rock-solid partnership with William Saliba in the heart of the Gunners’ defence.
But the league leaders have also been hit with two fresh new injuries over the festive period, with both Rice and Calafiori not featuring in the win over Villa.
Rice’s absence, his first in the league this season, came after he sustained a knee injury in the 2-1 win over Brighton last weekend.
Calafiori, meanwhile, has now missed Arsenal’s last two games after being forced to sit out the game against Brighton when he aggravated a pre-existing injury during the warm-up.
Arsenal were hopeful of welcoming both players back for their trip to an out-of Bournemouth, but Arteta confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Calafiori will not recover in time for Saturday evening’s match.
Asked if a decision has been made over Rice’s availability for the encounter, Arteta added: ‘Not yet, we have another session, let’s see how he comes today and how that is feeling, but it was too early that game (against Villa) for him.
‘Obviously we haven’t trained yet so today is going to be the first training session properly with the players who started against Villa, so we will know more this afternoon.’
Elsewhere, Arteta confirmed that Cristhian Mosquera will not be fit to return from an ankle injury he sustained in last month’s 2-0 win over Brentford.
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Max Dowman also remains unavailable with a longer-term injury.
Arsenal strengthened heavily over the summer to help them deal better with injuries, which have become a regular problem in recent seasons.
And with the January transfer window now open, Arteta hinted that the club could dip back into the market to provide themselves with more options in the second half of the season.
‘We are open to finding a solution that is short medium or long, but let’s see what happens and let’s see the news in the next few weeks,’ the Spaniard said.
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