Arteta assessed injuries to Odegaard, Gabriel and Calafiori ahead of EFL Cup game

Arsenal will play Preston North End this Tuesday for a place in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup, and the Gunners' manager spoke in the press room ahead of the match to update on several of the team's injured players.

One of them is Gabriel who had to be substituted last Sunday in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool in the Premier League. “We are still assessing him, it doesn’t look bad at all,” Mikel explained. “He was much better than expected, so hopefully he’ll be fine.”

In addition, the Spanish coach commented on injuries to Gunners captain Martin Odegaard, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber.

“Jurrien is fine. He was very tired, he had been out for a while and could not continue the game but there is no new injury there. (Riccardo) will be out for a few weeks I’d say."

“(Martin) has been on the grass for a few weeks, but there are still a few boxes to tick. How fast we can do that last stage of the rehab is a question we have to answer when we have players around and he starts competing with the team, something he hasn’t done yet. Hopefully he’ll be back (before the international break), but we’ll have to see how it goes.”

The one who will be available for selection will be William Saliba, who after being suspended for one game, looks set to return to the starting eleven for the cup match.