Riccardo Calafiori was forced to miss Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Brighton on Saturday after suffering an injury in the warm-up.
Calafiori was originally named in the starting line-up by Mikel Arteta but went down the tunnel early when he was warming up ahead of kick-off.
Arsenal confirmed on their X account that Calafiori ‘picked up an issue’ with the left-back subsequently replaced by Myles Lewis-Skelly in the XI.
With Lewis-Skelly upgraded to the starting line-up from the bench, Arsenal youngster Marli Salmon was named as a substitute instead.
Arsenal were already without their No.1 right-back Jurrien Timber ahead of kick-off with Calafiori’s injury making it a double blow for the Gunners.
Timber was expected to start for the north London side but Arteta revealed in his pre-match interview that the Dutchman picked up an injury in the Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace four days ago.
It is currently unknown how long both Calafiori and Timber will be ruled out for and if they will be fit to return against Aston Villa on Tuesday night.
Calafiori has been one of Arsenal’s most impressive players this season, firmly cementing himself as first-choice left-back ahead of Lewis-Skelly.
The 23-year-old Italy international has started 16 of Arsenal’s 18 Premier League games so far this season.
Calafiori has only missed two top-flight matches – the 2-1 win over Wolves, due to a yellow card suspension, and the clash against Brighton due to injury.
Nigel Winterburn recently named Calafiori and Timber as two of his five Arsenal Player of the Season contenders.
‘We’re coming close to the halfway stage, but there’s still a long way to go,’ former Arsenal defender Winterburn told OLBG this month.
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‘For me, when we tend to judge our players of the season, we tend to look really late in the season. We don’t really evaluate the whole season.
‘At this moment in time, I think you would have Riccardo Calafiori in there, Jurrien Timber would be in there, Declan Rice would be in there, Gabriel would have been in there before the injury.
‘I think we need to see where those players are when we go deep into the second half of the season, if they’re still playing at that high level. If they are, then those are the players that you would be looking at.
‘Bukayo Saka will come into the equation as well, he’s had a little bit of time out injured as well.
‘I would, for me, try to judge through the whole season and not just the end part where people tend to look at, I think, when the player of the season comes up.’
