Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta offered a guarded fitness update on Piero Hincapi\u00e9 ahead of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea, suggesting the situation offers “never a good sign” given recent developments. Hincapi\u00e9 was withdrawn during the club\u2019s previous match and Arteta admitted clarity would come only by the following day. “Probably tomorrow we\u2019ll know a little bit more where he\u2019s at,” he said. “Obviously he had to come off [against Liverpool] which is never a good sign, but hopefully it\u2019s not too much [time out].”<\/p>\n
Hincapi\u00e9\u2019s absence left room for Myles Lewis-Skelly, whose outing raised concerns after a commanding 4-1 victory in which a quickly taken free kick eventually led to Arsenal\u2019s third goal. The teenage fullback struggled at times against Championship opposition, ducking out of challenges and repeatedly failing to convince the referee that he had been fouled. With Riccardo Calafiori also an injury doubt, Arteta\u2019s comments suggested Lewis-Skelly could be required again at Stamford Bridge this midweek.<\/p>\n
Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera remain in the treatment room alongside Hincapi\u00e9. Asked if Mosquera and Calafiori might return, Arteta was blunt. “No, they are out again,” he sighed. He added a note of cautious optimism about their recoveries. “I think, pretty soon,” he continued, “they have to go to the last stage of the rehab. And if everything goes well, hopefully very soon, they will be available for selection.”<\/p>\n
Mosquera\u2019s absence has been softened by the returns of Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es and William Saliba, the latter not needing to travel to Fratton Park. Calafiori\u2019s missing presence has been felt more keenly. The fullback started the season strongly and, after injuries had seen him drop behind Lewis-Skelly previously, spent the second half of 2025 reminding observers why he cost \u00a342 million ($56.5 million). Across Arsenal\u2019s opening 15 league games, Calafiori produced the third-most shots in the squad, registering 22 efforts to Viktor Gy\u00f6keres\u2019s 20.<\/p>\n
For now, Arteta must balance short-term selection headaches with the hope that the sidelined defenders progress through rehab in time for upcoming fixtures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta warned Hincapi\u00e9’s fitness was worrying ahead of the Carabao Cup semi with Chelsea. Selection?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1067,190],"tags":[1312,1359,1066],"class_list":["post-5955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-carabao-cup","category-chelsea","tag-arsenal-fitness","tag-arsenal-injury","tag-carabao-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}