Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard will return to the Arsenal starting lineup when they take on Chelsea in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Arsenal will aim to take a step closer to the EFL Cup final when they lock horns with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the semi-final first leg on Wednesday night. Mikel Arteta has no new issues to worry about ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Piero Hincapie (hamstring), Cristhian Mosquera (ankle), Riccardo Calafiori (muscular), and Max Dowman (ankle) remain in the treatment room. Otherwise, Arteta has a full-strength squad to take on Chelsea in the midweek EFL Cup clash.
Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Arteta provided fitness updates on the injured quartet. The Spanish tactician also discussed Kai Havertz’s progress after the German international struggled with a few issues in recent months.
The Arsenal manager said, “Those two [Hincapie and Calafiori] are not available yet. It’s a muscle injury [for Calafiori]. He’s progressing, but we don’t know. I think it will matter for a few weeks probably, but we don’t know exactly when.”
“[Max] is very similar to Mosquera. Very similar injuries, very similar time frames. Both evolving really well, but they’re not training yet, so they’re still a few weeks away.”
Speaking on Havertz, the Arsenal boss said, “Obviously we missed him [Havertz] a lot. A year is a long time in football, but as you said, the way he’s come back, he looks really fit, really confident. He’s such an intelligent player that straight away, he is someone that connects with the players really naturally.”
“We have to manage his minutes now, but he had a good block of 20-25 minutes the other day. He trained really well again today, it’s now a case of building his robustness and make sure that he’s available for every game.”
Kepa Arrizabalaga will retain his spot between the sticks, with Arsenal lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him against his former club, Chelsea, on Wednesday. The backline will feature Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi in the double pivot, with Martin Odegaard reprising the no. 10 role. Finally, Viktor Gyokeres will lead the line for the away side against Chelsea, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli being the two wide attackers.
Predicted Arsenal XI: Kepa; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Gyokeres
