Arsenal lose Hincapié and Zubimendi to warm-down injuries before facing Lille

Backup goalkeeper Illan Meslier carried Piero Hincapié on his back to the dressing room rather than wait for a stretcher. It happened on Saturday on the Emirates pitch, after the 2-1 win over Leeds, in a session planned for the players who had not got enough minutes. In two actions, Arsenal lost two men.

Hincapié, who came on in the 82nd minute, and Martín Zubimendi, who stayed on the bench, hurt their ankles in that small-sided game. Mikel Arteta confirmed it in his Monday press conference, on the eve of hosting Lille: both will miss the match. “We had a training session planned after the match for everyone that didn’t get enough minutes, and in two unfortunate actions we lost two players,” the manager told the BBC.

Hincapié the more serious of the two

Nobody knows how long they will be out: both players have scans on Monday. “Piero’s one looks a little bit more serious,” Arteta said in The Guardian. The two English papers tell the same story: same session, same ankles, same uncertainty over the timeline.

On Tuesday evening, Arteta fields a side without two squad players, a defender and a midfielder, five days before the trip to the City Ground. The schedule does not slow down and the bench gets thinner.

Saliba still counts in weeks

The only good news of the day is William Saliba: the defender, whose back injury dates back to the World Cup, has started training on his own. “We’re still talking about weeks,” Arteta cautioned. He is not an option against Lille, and probably not at Nottingham either.

The market has not moved yet

Arsenal’s win at Nottingham Forest on Sunday still trades at 1.66 with 1xbet, a price recorded before Monday’s announcement. Monday evening’s scans will say whether it has to move. Two more absences in a packed week, Lille on Tuesday and Nottingham on Sunday, are the kind of detail a bettor weighs before taking a short price.