Mikel Arteta faces a crisis of numbers for Wednesday's EFL Cup semifinal first leg at Chelsea with William Saliba at risk of joining three other defenders on the sidelines at Stamford Bridge. Saliba missed Arsenal's FA Cup third round trip to Portsmouth with what Arteta has now confirmed was a knock and, along with Leandro Trossard, was rated by his manager as a "doubt" to make the trip to west London.
Arteta has been known to sew the seeds of confusion over the status of players before key games in the past and it remains to be seen whether he might indeed be ready to return to the side. That the Arsenal manager said that the injuries to both Trossard and Saliba were "nothing serious" does at least offer hope that they might be available.
Arsenal could do with the latter given that Arteta confirmed that both Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori will not have recovered in time for the cup tie. Hincapie limped out of last week's 0-0 draw with Liverpool and despite undergoing scans since then Arteta insisted he is in the dark as to a return date for the Ecuadorian.
Viewing information: Chelsea vs. Arsenal
- Date: Wednesday, Jan. 14 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Stamford Bridge -- London
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Chelsea +200; Draw +220; Arsenal +120
Calafiori has been out since December 27 when he pulled up in the warm-up before a game against Brighton. He is "a few weeks" away from making his return from an injury that he had suffered the day before and which Arsenal initially considered asking him to play through. It speaks volumes on Arteta's caution around injury updates that what exactly Calafiori has injured is still unclear, the manager saying it was "a muscle" when asked directly.
The final unavailable defender for the trip to Chelsea is Cristhian Mosquera though there was a more concrete update on that front. The center back has been sidelined since an awkward landing in a win over Brentford on December 3 but his recovery is progressing well, his progress back to the first team at a similar stage to young forward Max Dowman.
"Very similar injury, very similar timeframes," said Arteta. "Both of them did really well, but they're not training yet, so they're still a few weeks away."
Despite the injuries Arteta could still have the quality to field a strong back four even if Saliba is out. In those circumstances one of Jurrien Timber or Ben White could partner Gabriel with the other at right back and Myles Lewis-Skelly on the left. Christian Norgaard could also slot into the center back role where he has started twice already this season.
Whatever the lineup Arteta is intent on taking the EFL Cup seriously. Without a trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 2020, the Arsenal manager is intent on putting everything he has into winning the trophy. There will be no repeat of his old boss Arsene Wenger's policy of handing this competition over to the kids.
"In my case we cannot do that because obviously players have to be available to be able to pick them there," he said. "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."
Chelsea meanwhile will be without the suspended Moises Caicedo. Reece James, Malo Gusto and Cole Palmer are also doubts after missing the win at Charlton in the FA Cup, Liam Rosenior confirmed on Monday.
Predicted lineups
Chelsea XI: Robert Sanchez; Josh Acheampong, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Reece James, Andrey Santos; Estevao, Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto; Joao Pedro
Arsenal XI: Kepa Arrizabalaga; Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Myles Lewis-Skelly; Martin Odegaard, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli
