Mikel Arteta is guaranteed to see his list of Arsenal absentees grow one bigger for the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace. Due to injuries, the Gunners could be without five players at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Gabriel Magalhaes will not be one of those however, after he returned to the starting XI this past weekend against Everton having missed the last three games. Riccardo Calafiori has also been absent for the same period but he was not back in the matchday squad on Saturday.
When the defensive duo were unavailable, Oleksandr Zinchenko started in the Premier League for the first time this season but has not featured since because of injury. Declan Rice also looked set to miss Palace after Arteta revealed he felt something which led to an early withdrawal against Everton.
It does appear though that the midfielder has recovered and could now feature, according to Arteta. “He’s [Rice] fine,” the Gunners boss admitted on Tuesday. “We will make the decision on whether he’s available or not. Alex [Zinchenko] and Riccy [Riccardo Calafiori] will still be out of the squad for tomorrow.”
Elsewhere, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White are expected to remain out of action until early 2025 at least which makes it four guaranteed absences against Palace, but an EFL rule means it will actually be five.
This past summer, Arsenal signed Neto on loan from Bournemouth as a replacement for Aaron Ramsdale who made a permanent switch to Southampton. As the back-up goalkeeper to David Raya, the expectation was he would feature in cup games but having played for the Cherries in the Carabao Cup first round, he is ineligible to play for Arsenal in that competition.
Though Arteta has selected Jack Porter and Tommy Setford in previous rounds, David Raya is expected to be in the starting XI considering the fact a place in the last four up is for grabs. Arteta will want to rest some players however, with major decisions to be made on whether Rice or Gabriel are risked.
Kieran Tierney, Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri are just a few names also pushing for a prominent role with Thomas Partey and Jakub Kiwior hoping for returns to the starting XI.
