Arsenal could be faced with yet another injury, after Italy boss Luciano Spalletti revealed Riccardo Calafiori complained his knee felt “strange” after playing 90 minutes against Germany.
Calafiori has played a notable role in a number of the Gunners’ recent matches. He’s started three of the last four Premier League games at left-back, and played 81 minutes across both legs of the Champions League last 16 against PSV Eindhoven – scoring and assisting in the first leg.
But it seems there’s a chance that Arsenal could now lose the Italian, after he complained of discomfort following a 90-minute display for his country against Germany on Thursday.
In the latter stages of the match, Calafiori slipped and was struggling to move freely after being given treatment on the pitch.
Manager Spalletti revealed after the game that the defender “said that his knee feels strange, but cannot answer more precisely than that, so we’ll have to see.”
When he was asked about his condition himself when leaving the stadium, Calafiori reportedly said “I still don’t know.”
It’s felt unlikely that the Arsenal man will play the return leg in the Nations League quarter-final against Germany on Sunday, with a return to the Emirates the likeliest course of action.
If he is sidelined, it’ll be a blow for the Gunners, given the number of important players they are already missing.
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Gabriel Jesus, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka are all currently sidelined. The majority of those players are missing from the forward line, and Arsenal have scored twice in their last four Premier League games as a result.
But they have remained defensively sound, conceding just two goals in those games, too.
The loss of a defender could put doubt over whether they could remain solid at the back, a scary thought for a club who are looking to consolidate their second place in the Premier League, and march through the Champions League knockouts.
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