Arsenal defender an injury doubt ahead of PSG & Southampton fixtures

Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori is a potential injury concern ahead of fixtures against Paris Sain-Germain and Southampton in the Champions League and Premier League respectively.

The Italian has started each of Arsenal’s last three games across all competitions, starting at left-back against Manchester City and Leicester City in the league, while getting the nod in the centre of defence for the Carabao Cup clash against Bolton Wanderers.

Calafiori seemed to jar his knee for the visit of the Foxes on Saturday following an aerial challenge with Odsonne Edouard. He appeared to be in discomfort later on as well, while reports even suggested the £42m signing was ‘in tears’ after the game.

There is no official update on Calafiori as yet, but manager Mikel Arteta will address the media again before the visit of PSG to the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

Arsenal are then due to face Southampton on 5 October, before domestic football pauses for the next international break.

Losing Calafiori for any length of time would be a considerable blow. The Gunners are already without left-back options Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu until after the international break. Jakub Kiwior played the position for a run of games last season, while teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly started the Bolton game on the left – he is a midfielder by trade.

Arsenal go into the PSG clash, having been unable to find a way through in a 0-0 draw against Atalanta on matchday one. But they will take confidence from capitalising on Manchester City’s stumble in the Premier League, moving level on points with the champions following their draw with Newcastle United. Liverpool are now top of the table with a slender one-point lead.

The Gunners had looked like they might slip up themselves after losing a 2-0 lead against Leicester, before eventually scoring twice more to prevail 4-2.