Football

Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber Absent From Arsenal Training Ahead Of Liverpool Clash

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Cai Parry
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Cai Parry Sports Editor

Cai is a news and features writer that specialises in football, but has experience covering a variety of other sports, including darts, basketball, American football, MMA, boxing and more. He holds a degree in Football Journalism (BA Hons) from the University of Derby, and worked with Nottingham Forest FC and Burton Albion FC throughout his studies. Cai also has experience working in social media with the Football Association of Wales, where he worked on a freelance basis, and has also been an accredited writer in the JD Cymru Premier for both Y Clwb Pêl-Droed and welshfootie since the 2019/20 season.

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Published25 Oct 2024

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Arsenal Injury Update Saka Calafiori TImber

Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori were all absent from Arsenal training on Friday afternoon ahead of Sunday’s crucial Premier League clash against Liverpool.

Arsenal’s worrying injury crisis heading into their crucial Gameweek 9 clash against Liverpool doesn’t seem to be improving, with all of Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori missing the majority of training on Friday.

Saka has missed the Gunners’ last two games with a thigh injury suffered on international duty with England, while Timber has missed the last three due to a muscular issue.

Calafiori, meanwhile, was forced off with a knee injury in the midweek Champions League win over Shakhtar.

Other points of concern within the squad are with Martin Odegaard (ankle), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (thigh), who are all ruled out of Sunday’s clash, along with ever-present defender William Saliba, who is suspended.

Arsenal Injury Update: Saka, Timber & Calafiori Absent From Training

Members of the media were allowed to watch Arsenal train for 15 minutes ahead of Mikel Arteta‘s press conference on Friday afternoon, where it was confirmed that Saka, Timber and Calafiori were nowhere to be seen.

When asked about the absent trio in his press conference, Arteta responded: “We’re going to do our very best to somehow have them available. It’s very, very uncertain.”

The Spaniard went on to give an update on the condition of all three players, confirming that Calafiori needs to undergo some more tests to discover the severity of his knee issue.

“He needs some more tests. Yesterday he had some, today he’s going to have some more. Last time we thought it was really bad, and then he ended up playing two days after.”

On Saka, he said: “He’s done a bit of training on the grass. How far we can get him before Sunday is a different question. We have another day, which is a good thing. We will see.”

And finally, on Timber, he revealed that the Dutchman’s recovery is behind schedule, whilst also confirming that he’d had some sort of involvement in training earlier in the day.

“It was the first session that he could have some involvement. He’s been out for a while. We expected he would be further ahead than where he is at the moment, but again, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Whether any, or all, of the three recover in time for Liverpool’s visit remains to be seen. Regardless, the UK’s best football betting sites still have the Gunners as narrow favourites to claim all three points in North London.