Mikel Arteta has hinted Gabriel Magalhaes could return for tomorrow’s game against Everton.
The Brazil international has been struggling with a muscular problem for a few weeks and the club have kept him on the sidelines for three games in a row.
It’s thought the defender picked up the issue in the 5-1 win against Sporting Lisbon and aggravated it four days later when the Gunners also hit five past West Ham. He was withdrawn at half-time of that game having also taken a blow to the head from Lukasz Fabianski.
Jakub Kiwior has been providing cover for Gabriel so it’ll be interesting if the Pole, who has played well, will drop out completely or move across to left-back where Arsenal have had other injury issues.
Oleksandr Zinchenko remains sidelined and Arteta, unfortunately, doesn’t expect Riccardo Calafiori to return this weekend either.
Asked about Gabriel and Calafioriori, Arteta said coyly: “There is a possibility with one of them to be available. He trained today and we’ll see tomorrow.”
When pressed on the identity of who trained, he confirmed it was the former.
As for Calafiori, who has a groin issue, he added: “We’re just respecting the times that the medical department has set and then we just monitor his evolution every single day. And we understand that he’s not fully ready yet, but he’s getting very close now.”
Myles Lewis-Skelly, who started against Monaco on Wednesday, is another option at left-back after a very promising performance on his Champions League debut.
“He certainly deserves to be in contention, to be selected, because he performed and competed really well,” said Arteta.
“At his age, to show that maturity on the pitch is strange. And off the field, it’s exactly the same. He’s a person that continuously surprises all the staff with the kind of questions that he keeps asking.
“A lot of time, that tells you the intelligence of the person and Myles is a really bright boy.”
He added” “You always take a chance \[when fielding a youngster\]. Nobody can guarantee you a performance, it doesn’t matter the experience or the age.
“But he was surrounded by very senior players, very experienced players and we believe that it was the right context, a context that he could succeed and help the team to perform to win the game. And he certainly did that.”