Mikel Arteta reveals two new Arsenal injury worries and provides Riccardo Calafiori update

Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update ahead of Arsenal's clash against Chelsea in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. The Gunners could be without some big names when they lock horns with Liam Rosenior's side at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

Speaking to reporters at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday, the Arsenal boss provided an update on Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori. Arteta said: "They are not available yet. The other worries are [William] Saliba and [Leandro] Trossard."

When pressed on Hincapie, who underwent a scan on Monday, the Spaniard kept his cards close to his chest and refused to give a preliminary return date. He said: "We don't know yet."

Arteta later clarified that Calafiori has been nursing 'a muscle injury'. The Gunners boss said: "He's progressing, but I don't know [when he'll return]. It might be a few weeks, but we don't know exactly when."

Saliba and Trossard were left out of the matchday squad when Arsenal stormed past Portsmouth in the FA Cup at the weekend. When asked why, Arteta said: "Yeah, those two are a doubt... because they're not fit enough."

On whether they had suffered serious injuries, he replied: "No. I forgot how much fun this was!"

Max Dowman suffered ligament damage to his ankle during a friendly against Manchester United in the middle of December. Shortly after the incident, Arteta claimed the 16-year-old midfielder would be 'out for a number of weeks'.

When asked about Dowman ahead of Arsenal's clash against Chelsea, the Spaniard said: "Very similar to [Cristhian] Mosquera as well, you see I'm giving you... So, very similar injury, very similar timeframes, and both of them did really well, but they're not training yet, so they're still a few weeks away."

On whether he plans to rotate the starting lineup, Arteta said: "In my case, we cannot do that because obviously players have to be available to be able to pick them there. I don't believe in players for competitions.

"I believe that we have competition and we want to compete in our competition with the best moment of the players that we have in our resource and that's what we try to do."

Kai Havertz marked his return from a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a promising cameo at the weekend. The former Chelsea forward replaced Gabriel Jesus during second half of Sunday afternoon's 4-1 win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

On how he plans to reintegrate Havertz into the starting lineup, Arteta said: "We have to manage his minutes now but he had a block of 20 minutes here and there."

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