There is plenty of imagery, all over the internet, of Arsenal’s weekend training sessions, but you don’t see Riccardo Calafiori or Jurrien Timber anywhere. Given that both of them missed the preseason clash against Liverpool in Philadelphia, and have battled injuries recently, there is growing concern about their potential unavailability for this week (versus Bayer Leverkusen) and weekend (versus Lyon).
Preseason Friendly FYIs
Bayer Leverkusen at Arsenal FC
Kickoff (local time): Wed. Aug 7, 6pm, Emirates Stadium, London, UK
Arsenal Preview Content: Team News Starting XI Prediction
Stream: Arsenal.com
Series history: 2002 UCL Group stage, Arsenal won the tie 5-2
Timber has featured this preseason, but Calafiori has not.
“We had to manage him,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of Calafiori.
“He had a very busy 48 hours before he took his flight and joined us here, and then it was the jetlag, it’s a lot of things.
“He hasn’t trained with the team yet and we want to build him up slowly to get to know him first. We’ll have plenty of time to see him.”
Neither player appears to be injured. Meanwhile William Saliba, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, and David Raya all back with the team, training again, after having missed the United States of America tour due to their post international tournament holidays.
They could all get some minutes here, most likely off the bench.
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 Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.