Arteta Gives Arsenal Injury Update Ahead of Lille Clash

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta provided a squad fitness update at Sobha Realty Training Centre ahead of the UEFA Champions League match against Lille, confirming injuries to Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi after the Leeds United win and outlining William Saliba's recovery progress.

According to Arsenal, Hincapie and Zubimendi suffered injuries during a post-match training session after the 2-1 victory over Leeds United. Both players were scheduled for further scans, while Saliba continued individual work on his return.

"Well it happened," Arteta said, "we had a training session planned after the game for the players that didn't have enough minutes to get everybody the recovery day on Sunday, and to get everybody in the right rhythm. In two very unfortunate actions, we lost two players, and yeah, not great. We need to assess them today.

They have further scans to see where they are and they will have that time frame, how long they're going to be out for." Mikel Arteta, manager.

Hincapie and Zubimendi had both been substitutes against Leeds, with Hincapie entering the match in the 80th minute. Arteta said both players would miss the Lille match, with Hincapie's injury appearing more serious before scan results were available.

"They're both going to miss tomorrow's match, that's for sure, and today they're going to have a further scan and probably tomorrow we'll know more. Then we'll see how they're going to go. Piero's one looks a little bit more serious I think, but we'll have to wait and see." Mikel Arteta, manager.

Arteta was also asked about the possibility of avoiding injuries from training sessions after the setbacks. He explained that contact during small-sided games can lead to incidents despite planning and preparation.

"Very easy; don't train. Never train, and they don't get injured. That's why the consequence to that is when they have to play, they have no rhythm, and when you ask them to play, they're going to have no impact in the game.

It never happened in seven years that I've been here. But what can you do? If I knew I had a crystal ball, I'd say, guys, go in the jacuzzi, everybody, and see you tomorrow.

The temptation is that we don't take that risk, and we'll do something else, but we were going to do that anyway the next day. When you play these kind of small-sided games, there is contact, and these things happen. They didn't happen once last season, and we did it 37 times I think it is.

If we had to do this again, the way we planned the seven days that we had in that period with the players that didn't have enough load, would it have been the case? The answer is yes, and it's a sport of contact, and this can happen." Mikel Arteta, manager.

Arteta said Saliba has spent more than a week training on the grass while the club manages his workload. The defender is being monitored before a possible return to team sessions.

"It's over a week I think [he's been on the grass], obviously we're managing that load. He's building now his capacity to good standards, and let's see in the next few weeks if we can start to introduce him to the team to see where we are to actually make him available for the squad. We're still talking about weeks, and when that happens, it's very different whether he would play just before or just after [the November international break] because it's a very specific injury, that the healing process I cannot tell you exactly how he's going to react." Mikel Arteta, manager.