Arsenal's Hincapie and Zubimendi out with injuries before Lille match

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said that Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi will not play in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League match against Lille due to injuries. They got hurt during a training session after the match on Saturday.

Arteta shared this news at the Sobha Realty Training Centre ahead of the match. This update was posted on Arsenal’s official website on Monday.

The injuries happened during a training session for players who did not play much in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Leeds United. The manager mentioned that the club is waiting for medical checks to see how serious the injuries are and how long the players will be out.

“In two very unfortunate actions, we lost two players, and yeah, not great. We need to assess them today. They have further scans to see where they are and they will have that time frame, how long they’re going to be out for,” Arteta stated.

He noted that Hincapie’s injury looks worse than Zubimendi’s, but they still need to confirm how long the recovery will take. “They’re both going to miss tomorrow’s match, that’s for sure, and today they’re going to have a further scan and probably tomorrow we’ll know more.

“Then we’ll see how they’re going to go. Piero’s one looks a little bit more serious I think, but we’ll have to wait and see,” the Arsenal manager said.

Both players were on the bench against Leeds, with Hincapie coming on in the 80th minute to help Arsenal win the game. When asked if the injuries could have been avoided, Arteta defended the extra training session, saying players need to stay fit and ready.

“Very easy; don’t train. Never train, and they don’t get injured. That’s why the consequence to that is when they have to play, they have no rhythm, and when you ask them to play, they’re going to have no impact in the game,” he explained.

Arteta called the timing of the injuries unfortunate but said that injuries can happen during small training games. He pointed out that Arsenal had done these sessions 37 times last season without issues.

Meanwhile, defender William Saliba is recovering from his injury and has started individual training on the pitch. Arteta said the French player has been training on the grass for over a week as the club carefully manages his training.

However, the manager warned that Saliba’s return to games is still weeks away. They will assess his progress before he can join the team again. “He’s building now his capacity to good standards, and let’s see in the next few weeks if we can start to introduce him to the team to see where we are to actually make him available for the squad,” Arteta said.

He added that Saliba’s return could happen either before or after the November international break, depending on how he responds to treatment.

Arsenal will play Lille on Tuesday as they continue their Champions League journey. The new injuries are a setback for the team ahead of this important match.