Arsenal are assessing Riccardo Calafiori after the defender picked up a knock during Saturday's 2-0 Premier League win over Everton, leaving him a doubt for the Carabao Cup trip to Fleetwood Town on Tuesday and the visit to Liverpool on Sunday. Mikel Arteta played down the severity of the problem, describing it as "something very small", but the Italian's departure straight down the tunnel at full-time has made him the main fitness question of the week.

What happened against Everton

According to the Evening Standard, Calafiori did not start at the Emirates even though he had started each of Arsenal’s seven earlier Premier League games; the paper highlighted the brief recovery period after his full 90 minutes in Munich the Wednesday before. He was introduced from the bench in the second half and played at left-back, but finished the match in a forward position, with Noni Madueke dropping into the defensive role. According to the Evening Standard, Calafiori stood near the front for most of the eight added minutes and then went straight toward the tunnel.

Arteta plays it down

Speaking after the game, the Arsenal manager confirmed the positional switch was forced on him. The reason given was: "It was because [Calafiori] had a slight issue, we don't know what it is." It seems something very small," Arteta said, as reported by Sky Sports. The same comments were carried by the Evening Standard and Daily Cannon, with the latter quoting Arteta saying the player "was cautious of that". According to Sky Sports, Arteta minimized how serious the problem was, and GoonerNews observed that the defender went directly down the tunnel when the final whistle blew.

The wider picture

Piero Hincapie, back from an ankle problem sooner than expected, was in the matchday squad. Daily Cannon proposed that the Fleetwood match might offer an opportunity for Hincapie to get minutes, especially with Myles Lewis-Skelly also available, and contended that the bigger worry is Anfield, where Arsenal are already "almost certain" to lack William Saliba and Bukayo Saka.

Saka's quad problem, sustained against Bayern Munich, is still without a firm timeline. Arteta said before the Everton match that another scan would follow in a week to ten days because of fluid around the injury, adding: "It looks like it's going to be weeks." The Evening Standard lists a potential return date of 20 December against Manchester United.

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