Ipswich Town corner flag
Ipswich Town corner flag
A half-time withdrawal for a groin problem is the sort of detail that turns a 2-0 win into an injury bulletin. Three clean sheets do not stock the treatment room.
Cup nights are where returns get tested. If a centre-half is “around that time”, Tuesday at Ipswich is the date on the sheet.
Extended absences have no calendar. Load on a healing back is the only test that matters, and it has not started yet.
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Arsenal are without three defenders after the 2-0 win at Sunderland. Jurrien Timber came through his first minutes since groin surgery as a half-time substitute. Ben White went the other way, holding his groin after also looking sore in Naples.
William Saliba remains out with the back injury that flared at the World Cup. Mikel Arteta said: “We don’t really know the amount of weeks Wilo [Saliba] is going to be out because it’s about a healing process and everything is a bit different – we know we have to respect certain timings.” He added: “The progression has been really positive in the last few weeks, but we need to wait and see how that one reacts when we start to put some load into it.”
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Cristhian Mosquera has missed Chelsea, Napoli and Sunderland since the muscle issue at Aston Villa. Last week Arteta said: “He’s doing really well. Let’s see if he can get [back] for this game, it will be around that time.” The Standard now point at Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie away at Ipswich as the possible return.
White has no date. Arteta is expected to update before Ipswich. He had been “fine” on Friday and started at the Stadium of Light. He did not finish the first half.
That leaves Gabriel Magalhães, Ezri Konsa, Riccardo Calafiori and now Timber as the fit senior group, with Piero Hincapie, Marli Salmon and Myles Lewis-Skelly as options. Konsa had a tough night against Brian Brobbey and conceded a penalty, which shouldn’t have been awarded, that David Raya saved.
Next are Ipswich in the League Cup, then Brighton on 19 September, then the international break that will take Gabriel and Bruno Guimaraes to Brazil. Four league wins from four will not ease the numbers if White is added to Saliba’s long wait.
The only good defensive note from Wearside was Timber’s half. The rest of the update is wait, load, and Tuesday.
Manchester City corner flag
Manchester City corner flag