Maybe the knee injury to Riccardo Calafiori is substantially more serious than Arsenal have been letting on? Initially, back in mid-to-late March when the injury first occurred, we were told that the Italian defender would be out for a little while, but not too long.
Yet here we are more than six weeks later, and Calafiori is still not ready to make a matchday squad.
Arsenal vs AFC Bournemouth FYIs
Kickoff Time: 5:30pm BST, Saturday, May 3
Location: Emirates Stadium, London, UK
Arsenal Preview Stuff: Team News Starting XI Prediction
Google Result Probability: AFC Bournemouth 28% Draw 26% Arsenal 46%
Premier League Standings: AFC Bournemouth 10th, 50 pts Arsenal 2nd, 67 pts
Gunners Team News
“Riccardo is still not fit,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said yesterday.
Count Calafiori (sounds like a character in an Alexandre Dumas novel “Count Calafiori traveled to…..) in the “strong doubt” category for Saturday.
Maybe he’ll rest up and get right for Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League next week.
Speaking of, in Arteta wants to rest David Raya here, in the interest of doing squad rotation for the match coming up that actually matters, well, he’s got a problem.
No. 2 goalkeeper Norberto Murara Neto, or just Neto as you know and love him, is in eligible here, because a loanee cannot face his parent club.
Other than that, we no other team news items to report.
Kai Havertz and Jorginho are looking at mid-May returns while Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Magalhaes and Takehiro Tomiyasu are done for the season.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter