Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta defended the club’s training routine after two first‑team players, Piero Hincapié and Martín Zubimendi, suffered ankle injuries during a post‑match session at Emirates Stadium. The injuries came after the Gunners’ 2‑1 victory over Leeds United on Saturday, and both players are scheduled for scans on Monday to assess the damage.
In a press briefing ahead of the Champions League home tie against Lille, Arteta explained that the training session had been arranged to give squad members who had limited minutes in the league match a chance to recover and regain match rhythm. “We had a training session planned after the game for the players that didn’t have enough minutes, to get everybody into the recovery on Sunday and to get everybody in the rhythm,” he said. He added that the session had resulted in “two very unfortunate actions” that left Hincapié and Zubimendi sidelined. “They will miss tomorrow’s match, that’s for sure,” Arteta confirmed. The manager said the players would undergo further scans to determine the severity of their injuries, with Hincapié’s ankle appearing slightly more serious.
Arteta also addressed the broader question of whether the training could have been altered to prevent the incidents. He noted that small‑sided games inevitably involve contact and that similar sessions have been run successfully many times in the past. “We were going to do that the next day anyway and when you play those kind of small‑sided games, there is contact and these things can happen,” he said. He acknowledged the temptation to change the training approach after an injury but stressed that the risk of contact is inherent in football. “The solution is very easy: you don’t train. Never train and they don’t get injured but the consequence to that is when they have to play, they have no rhythm,” Arteta said, adding that the club hopes the incidents will not recur.
In addition to the injury updates, Arteta confirmed that centre‑back William Saliba has returned to light training. However, he declined to specify a return date, noting that Saliba is still “weeks” away from being match‑fit. The Gunners will have to cope without Hincapié, Zubimendi and Saliba for their upcoming Champions League fixture, while the coaching staff will continue to monitor the injured players’ progress and decide on their rehabilitation timelines.