Mikel Arteta faces late Arsenal fitness decisions vs Preston amid Carabao Cup dilemma

Arsenal take on Preston in the fourth round of the League Cup looking to reach a quarter-final for the first time since their defeat to Liverpool several years ago. While Mikel Arteta welcomed back some of his absentees against the Reds last weekend, there remain questions over a number of players.

Arteta addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon and provided an update on several stars but as usual stopped short of giving absolute clarity. It has been a policy to keep opposition sides guessing.

However, that said, football.london can round up the seven players are might still be without with some being confirmed to miss the game. It will, therefore, require some fringe players getting minutes to enact some needed rotation ahead of what is the first of four successive away clashes.

The first absence is completely out of Arteta’s control. Goalkeeper Neto is prohibited from taking part because of being cup-tied having participated for Bournemouth prior to his loan move to Arsenal.

Both Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori are expected to miss the game having suffered problems in the last week. Arteta confirmed that the Italian would be missing for a few weeks and therefore may not be back till after the next international break.

On Gabriel, he said: “We are still assessing him, it doesn’t look bad at all. He was much better than expected, so hopefully he’ll be fine.”

READ MORE: Mikel Arteta responds to Jose Mourinho comparisons amid criticism of team news tactics

READ MORE: Nwaneri starts, Saka and Merino rested, Zinchenko returns – Seven Arsenal changes for Preston

Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney are both absent. That said, Arteta provided his first update on the Scottish full-back in some time in Tuesday’s press conference.

“I think he’s quite close,” he said. “He’s looking really good.

“I think he’s over the period where he was still struggling, so he looks really sharp out there. He hasn’t trained with the team yet but hopefully, he can do that in the next week or two.”

Martin Odegaard is another who remains out as a long-term absentee. However, he too is making his way back to the grass.

“He’s been on the grass for a few weeks, but there are still a few boxes to tick,” Arteta said. “How fast we can do that last stage of the rehab is a question we have to answer when we have players around and he starts competing with the team, something he hasn’t done yet.”

The last question mark is Jurrien Timber, although the defender could yet be okay. He came off against Liverpool but Arteta confirmed this was just due to tiredness.

Timber has since posted to Instagram a post ahead of the game with Preston. This would certainly give hope that he would indeed be available for the game.