Riccardo Calafiori has returned to fitness and could be included in the Arsenal squad to face Burnley, providing a significant boost for the Gunners.
The left back has been one of the most important players in the Arsenal team this season and is currently regarded as the first choice in his position at the Emirates Stadium.
However, injury has been an ongoing issue for the Italian since the start of the campaign, causing him to miss several matches, including the second half of Arsenal’s recent fixture against West Ham United. He did not reappear after the interval, which raised concerns among supporters about the severity of the problem and the length of his absence.
Calafiori return boosts Arsenal defensive options
Encouragingly for Arsenal, he has now returned to training as the squad prepares for their final home match of the season against Burnley.
According to Metro Sport, Calafiori was spotted taking part in the latest training session, suggesting he is close to being available for selection once again.
His return comes at an important moment, with Arsenal entering a decisive stage of the campaign where every point could prove crucial in their pursuit of major honours.
The possibility of his involvement against Burnley will be welcomed by Mikel Arteta, who has had to manage several fitness concerns within his defensive unit throughout the season.
Arsenal focus on decisive Burnley fixture
The match against Burnley is viewed as a must win encounter for Arsenal, who are aiming to finish the season strongly at home in front of their supporters.
There is also added significance depending on results elsewhere, as Arsenal could be crowned champions if they secure victory and Manchester City fail to win their own fixture during the same weekend.
Calafiori will be eager to contribute if selected, as he looks to play his part in what could become a historic end to the season for the club, with both Premier League and Champions League ambitions still within reach.
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So hopefully Calafiori is fit which means MLS can stay in midfield and Mosquera at RB
Other than that should be same starting team… or Ode instead of Eze?
Whats happened to Jesus? Hardly played at all. I guess if Havertz is fit he is 3rd striker and Arteta prefers Madueke Dowman and Martinelli to come on before him
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Guess he will be gone in summer and we look for a new younger forward
COYG
Jesus has come off the bench a few times, but yeah he’s one I’d expect to go in the summer.
I think we need to manage Odegaard’s fitness – need him for PSG!
Similar for Cala – if there’s any doubt at all over him then better to play MLS at left back till the final. the thought of facing PSG without Cala/Hincapie and Timber/White is pretty daunting.
Even if he isnt fit, we have hicapie
Our manager should learn to play players he wants to sell which is a better tactics than showing the whole world you don’t want a player and then expect to get a good fee for the player. Giving Jesus playing time to allow him contribute to the title, which would have allowed him to go to world Cup would have been a better thing to do. This would have allowed us get a good transfer fee out of him. That is the one thing our manager needs to learn. He needs to stop devaluing players by showing the World that a player is not needed. Jesus should have fetched some good cash in a title winning year. He didn’t even make it to the world Cup. For context, how much is Norgard worth right now after being part of a potential title winning team. How much was he worth in a mid table team. If we played our cards well, shouldn’t the potential title make him a bit more valuable or experienced. We always make it obvious we don’t want a player before we sell them. We should learn to give fringe players game time when we can. If MLS was not given a chance how would we have known he could do something. Playing Rice at RB when you had Mosquera on the bench shows trust issues. But Mosquera is not the problem, the manager is in this particular case. You know he is a CB by trade. He is solid defensively, but may struggle managing the workload of bumping forward and backward the way you want. You know this, but insist he should do it when he may need more time to do it effectively. Sometimes you have to setup the team with a tactics that the players available can implement efficiently. You can tweak how the team plays to accommodate him when he plays. You don’t make the bad decision of playing Rice out of position because you know he will not play the RB the way you want. But his solidity at the back could be an added advantage to the team when he comes on, all you need to do is come up with another way the team can attack without him playing in the opponents box the way Timber does. You are a genius manager, please find a way to get good transfer fees from our fringe players.
Too much to digest all of I right now but the first paragraph did make me stop to take breath
The notion that you’d start players you’re desperate to move on at a crucial time in the season is an anathema to me.
Is Jesus that bad? I never said start a fringe player. I said give them some playing time like last 30mins or so. It’s been obvious he had to give the starting players some rest. Before MLS was played against Fulham it has been obvious Zubi needed some rest. The tempo with which he started the season had dropped and he was making mistakes he normally will not make. At least taking him out at the 70mins mark. Norgard would not do as bad as Zubi was doing at that time. I know you want to protect the manager, but it is a constructive criticism. He can do better. Let’s not try to pretend that he perfectly knows what he is doing all the time. Where there is room to improve, lessons should be learnt and improvement made. He is doing great, doesn’t mean everything is perfect. Improvement needs to be made in the area of player sales and the manager can do a lot to contribute to the value of unwanted players. Jesus is not so bad that he cannot get 30mins of playing time. Maybe not in these last games but a lot before now. This can be done intentionally with the aim of keeping his value ahead of transfer. So it is not a reckless playing of a fringe player but a calculated one, meaning the difficulty level of the match he will be played will be considered.
When a man had failed 3 times to win the league u expect him to start tweaking formation and accommodating players that are not good enough even you as a manager cannot do that.
When a man fails he becomes cautions of his approach towards games, my message to all the Arsenal fans out their is for them to wait and see Arteta next season playing more attacking football because by then no fear again of losing the league or feeling of pressure because he might be winning it this season.
Calafiori has been seen training and is available again. Oh that should cover the first 30 minutes against Burnley then.