Arsenal were able to welcome Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapié back to training in the buildup to Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Manchester United at the Emirates, giving Mikel Arteta two potential options to combat Michael Carrick’s confident new side.
Hincapié has sat out Arsenal’s last four fixtures with a groin issue while Calafiori has not played for the club since Christmas while nursing muscular discomfort of his own. In the absence of these two left-footed defenders, Arteta has been forced into unconvincing alternatives. When right back Jurriën Timber has not been shunted out onto his unnatural flank, mercurial teenage fullback Myles Lewis-Skelly has been called upon.
