In anticipation of the Community Shield match against Manchester City in nine days, Arsenal is concerned about the health of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Declan Rice, and Folarin Balogun after the trio missed Thursday’s 5-3 friendly victory over Barcelona.
Zinchenko suffered a calf injury against Newcastle during the title run-in and hasn’t played since the beginning of May. He has therefore missed all of Arsenal’s preseason, including their trip to the United States.
Mikel Arteta is in a battle against time to be ready for the match against his former team at Wembley one week from Sunday, but he is hopeful that Zinchenko will return shortly. In the meantime, Rice was unable to play against Barcelona because of an injury he sustained in practice.
The £105 million summer acquisition made his debut for his new team against Manchester United on Saturday but is now questionable for Wednesday’s friendly against Monaco.
Young striker Balogun, who recently chose to play for the United States rather than England on the international stage, sat on the bench against United before being completely left out of the lineup against Barcelona. He has made two preseason appearances for the Gunners, but owing to a foot ailment, he was unable to exercise in advance of Thursday’s game.
After Arsenal’s most recent friendly, Arteta spoke to the media and said of Zinchenko, “Alex had a minor muscular issue, unfortunately. It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t with us for the entirety of the trip, but I believe he will return soon.
Dec [Rice] had a rather powerful kick in training, so we didn’t want to take the chance, he continued. We chose not to train yesterday because he wasn’t particularly comfortable. [Balogun] wasn’t accessible. He hasn’t been working out with us because of a minor foot injury.
The following players are anticipated to miss the trip to Wembley: Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Nicolas Pepe, Cedric Soares, and Nuno Tavares.
Guardiola has allayed fears over Nathan Ake’s fitness, who had to be replaced after suffering a lower leg injury against Bayern Munich. The Dutchman was removed from the game only out of caution, according to the City manager, and is not hurt.
Guardiola stated, “There are no injuries in the group. “In Manchester, we have one week to train exclusively for that final and get ready a little bit more thoroughly than we can here.
We always play the Community Shield in poor condition, but that is what it is and has been in prior seasons.
After playing Atletico Madrid on Sunday, City will conclude their preseason tour of Asia. They will then travel home to get ready for Arsenal at Wembley the following weekend.