"He felt something": Arteta confirms fourth Arsenal injury vs Palace after Saliba, Rice & Calafiori
Arsenal registered a 1-0 Premier League win over Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
The Gunners started the weekend with a three-point lead at the top of the table. They managed to extend the advantage to four points after the London derby win.
Despite the victory, the club’s faithful will be concerned by the number of injuries during the game.
Arteta initially confirmed that William Saliba, Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori were substituted with injury concerns, and it seems there is another potential issue.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the manager revealed that Gabriel Martinelli was a bit uncomfortable after the final whistle and ‘he felt something’.
He told Arsenal.com: “We have to check that one, he was a bit uncomfortable, he said he felt something. We don’t know whether it’s a muscular issue or not, so tomorrow we’ll have more news.”
Arsenal suffer quadruple injury blow
The Gunners had a mixed start to the league campaign with 10 points from the opening five games. They were five points behind leaders Liverpool after the 1-1 draw versus Manchester City.
However, there has been a tremendous turnaround. The London giants have won four league games on the trot, while the holders have lost 100 percent of their matches in the same period.
Arsenal are presently four points ahead of second-placed Bournemouth in the table, but most importantly, they are six and seven points in front of Manchester City and Liverpool.
They have a goal difference advantage too, and the onus is on extending the gap before the international break. Arsenal have Burnley and Sunderland on the road before the interval.
City and Liverpool face each other later next month. Prior to that, they are scheduled to host Bournemouth and Aston Villa respectively. Those fixtures won’t be a cakewalk.
Arsenal are in the right position to capitalise further. They suffered a quadruple injury setback yesterday, but we believe the injuries are short-term and should not prove a problem.
The club have sufficient depth in the squad to handle such a crisis. Cristhian Mosquera is a natural replacement for Saliba, while Ben White can operate in the right centre-back role too.
If Rice is sidelined, Arteta could call upon Mikel Merino, Ethan Nwaneri or Christian Norgaard.
Myles Lewis-Skelly and Piero Hincapie could easily deputise for Calafiori at left-back. Gabriel Martinelli played on the right wing yesterday, where Arsenal have sufficient backup.
If Bukayo Saka is given a breather, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman are potential solutions. Hence, Arsenal should not be overly concerned with a favourable schedule coming up.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
The post "He felt something": Arteta confirms fourth Arsenal injury vs Palace after Saliba, Rice & Calafiori first appeared on ArsenalNews.co.uk.