Arsenal dealt injury scare ahead of Spurs clash following freak incident

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The Football Faithful

·7 September 2024

Arsenal dealt injury scare ahead of Spurs clash following freak incident

Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori sustained an injury following a freak collision during Italy’s win over France on Saturday.

The 22-year-old started as the left-sided centre-back in Luciano Spalletti’s lineup at the Parc des Princes for his sixth international cap.

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However, Calafiori was forced off the pitch and replaced by Alessandro Buongiorno in the 71st minute after inadvertently clashing with Ousmane Dembele.

The Paris Saint-Germain winger was dribbling with the ball when a challenge from Alessandro Bastoni sent him flying into the air and somersaulting before catching Calafiori with his trailing foot.

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The former Roma player is now a doubt for Arsenal‘s Premier League meeting with Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby on Sunday, 15 September.

But Spalletti did say after the game that he’s hopeful Calafiori will be able to take part in Italy’s next Uefa Nations League game against Israel on Monday.

“Calafiori must be assessed, but we have good doctors, so we hope he will recover,” said the head coach.

Calafiori has thus far made just two appearances for the Gunners since moving from Bologna for a reported transfer fee of £33.7 million (€40m) plus £4.2m add-ons in the summer.

The Italian’s absence for the Spurs game would be another blow to manager Mikel Arteta, who will be without new signing Mikel Merino after the Spaniard injured his shoulder in training.

Declan Rice will also miss the clash after picking up two bookings in last weekend’s 1-1 drawiw ith Brighton & Hove Albion, while Takehiro Tomiyasu is ruled out with a knee injury that he has been nursing since pre-season.

Gabriel Jesus and Kieran Tierney could make the matchday squad, though. The Brazilian has only been on the pitch for five minutes this season due to a groin injury, but is expected back soon, while the Scot has returned to training after recovering from a hamstring injury he incurred at Euro 2024.

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