Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie may have acquitted themselves well at Stamford Bridge, but Arsenal fans will be hoping their centre-back pairing isn’t something Mikel Arteta has to lean on for too long.
Already without the talismanic Gabriel Magalhaes, sidelined by a muscular issue that could keep him out until January, the revelation that William Saliba had picked up a problem in training prompted plenty of pre-match teeth-gnashing.
Until Sunday, Arsenal had only once started a Premier League game without both Saliba and Gabriel since the Frenchman broke into the side three-and-a-half years ago – and that was a dead rubber against Southampton on the final day of last season.
While Mosquera and Hincapie had both featured in the build-up to the trip to Stamford Bridge – the former against Bayern, the latter in the North London derby – they’d only ever started together in the middle once, the Carabao Cup win over Brighton. In that context, and given both are new signings, they coped admirably with a physically and mentally demanding 90 minutes in West London, even if they both picked up bookings.
“It’s been a headache,” admitted Arteta of his side’s injury issues.
“We’ve had to have a lot of options and changes over the last few months for different reasons. That one [Saliba] is very unexpected and it happened on Saturday, but the beauty of it is that you have players so willing to play, so willing to connect with each other, and it makes their relationship even better.
“So, it was a great match for all of us, and it gives you the reassurance that whoever is there is going to perform.”
With Brentford visiting the Emirates on Wednesday and a trip to Aston Villa in Saturday’s early kick-off, there isn’t much recovery time for Saliba to shake off whatever left him, in Arteta’s words, “uncomfortable”.
“I think [Wilo] has another test on Monday to see the extent of that feeling, that sensation that he had, then we’ll know more. With Gabi, there are still some weeks to go.”
Arteta does at least have options if he needs to reshuffle further. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ben White are both pushing for minutes at full-back, which would allow Jurrien Timber or Riccardo Calafiori, who is one yellow card from a suspension, to shuffle inside. White, of course, can also operate at centre-half if required.
“We will see if we can recover somebody [for Brentford],” Arteta told the club website.
“We had some good news, like Viktor [Gyokeres] today coming on, Martin [Odegaard]having some minutes as well. So, we’re going to need everybody. On Wednesday, we play again, a really tough match at home, and we’re going to need everybody.”
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