Arsenal's 2-1 home victory over Leeds on Saturday has been overshadowed by the loss of Piero Hincapié and Martín Zubimendi to ankle injuries, with both men confirmed absent for Tuesday night's Champions League fixture against Lille at the Emirates Stadium.
The damage was done not during the match itself but in the post-game warm-down, a session set aside for those who had seen limited or no action during the ninety minutes. Hincapié had come on in the 82nd minute as a replacement for Riccardo Calafiori, while Zubimendi did not leave the bench. Both had been expected to feature against the French visitors, having not been handed a Premier League starting place this season.
Arteta confirmed at his pre-match press conference that the two players were undergoing scans to establish the full extent of the damage. "They are both going to miss tomorrow's match for sure. Tomorrow we will know more. Piero's one looks a little bit more serious," he said.
Footage that circulated on social media showed Hincapié in visible distress, sobbing and clutching his right ankle as he was carried from the pitch on the back of third-choice goalkeeper Illan Meslier rather than being stretchered away. Asked about the incident, Arteta was dismissive, describing it as something not for discussion at that moment.
The Arsenal manager was rather more forthcoming on why the warm-down sessions would continue despite the cost. He acknowledged the situation was far from ideal but argued that asking players to go without adequate training load carried its own consequences — namely that those individuals would have no rhythm and no impact when called upon. He also noted that such an incident had not occurred once across 37 similar sessions the previous season and that, given the same seven-day planning window, he would make the same call again.
The setbacks deepen an already significant absentee list. Christos Tzolis is out until November with the hamstring problem he sustained while on duty with Greece. William Saliba has not featured since injuring his back during France's World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain in July, though there was some encouragement on Monday. Arteta said Saliba had been on the grass for over a week, building his capacity with individual sessions at London Colney, and indicated a return to team training remained a matter of weeks away.
Gabriel Magalhães is expected to partner Ezri Konsa at centre-back against Lille, with Calafiori potentially required at left-back despite Arteta's plan to protect him from European minutes. Arsenal's schedule does not ease after Tuesday — they travel to Nottingham Forest on Sunday before a Champions League away fixture against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, 21 October.
Reporting: talkSPORT, The Guardian, RTÉ, TeamTalk, Evening Standard, Football.London, Mirror, Daily Mail, Metro, GiveMeSport, The Sun.