According to the latest Arsenal injury news update, the duo of Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie have returned to Arsenal training with their teammates ahead of the clash with Manchester United, with Sky Sports cameras spotting the pair at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.
Mikel Arteta has since confirmed positive updates on both defenders during his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, with their return to the squad coming as a timely boost for the Gunners.
He said, “We still have another session, so we’ll see after that.”
Both players had been sidelined for several weeks. Hincapie was forced off after 57 minutes against Liverpool, although Arteta expressed hope at the time that the issue was not too serious.
The former Bayer Leverkusen defender is back on the training pitch, and the Gunners would expect to see him back in the starting lineup. Myles Lewis-Skelly impressed in Milan during his absence, but Hincapie’s return is expected to make minutes harder to come by for the 19-year-old.
Calafiori is also close to being reintegrated, and it could be the Italian who reclaims the left-back role in the coming weeks.
The Italian defender has been out since sustaining an issue in training. He was initially named in the starting XI against Brighton but was forced to withdraw during the warm-up and was replaced by Lewis-Skelly.
With Calafiori and Hincapie back in training, Arteta now has an almost fully fit squad available, with Max Dowman the only absentee as he continues to recover from an ankle injury.
Arsenal face Kairat Almaty in the UEFA Champions League next week, and that fixture could be targeted as an opportunity for both defenders to build match fitness.
The Gunners currently sit seven points clear at the summit of English football after Manchester City and Aston Villa dropped points last weekend, and would look to extend that lead against Manchester United on Sunday.
