Piero Hincapie is out of Arsenal’s FA Cup quarter-final at Southampton but Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber are in contention to return, Mikel Arteta has said.
Hincapie came off with a hamstring injury 77 minutes into Ecuador’s 1-1 draw with Morocco on March 27, and subsequently withdrew from the national squad ahead of their friendly against the Netherlands.
Arteta did not provide a possible timeframe on when the left-back, who has started five of the last six Arsenal matches, will return.
Riccardo Calafiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly both played two complete matches for Italy and England Under-21s during the break.
Neither Odegaard (Norway) nor Timber (Netherlands) travelled to their national set-ups as they were recovering from pre-existing injuries. Odegaard was expected to return to full training during the break, coinciding with injuries to Eberechi Eze and Mikel Merino in similar positions.
Asked how long Eze would be out for, the Arsenal manager said: “I don’t know. He’s a special character.”
Arteta was able to confirm that the knee injury Noni Madueke suffered with England is only a matter of days: “I was really worried, especially after what happened to his other knee when he was out for six weeks but it’s nowhere near that injury.”
Arsenal had 10 players pull out of international duty in March.
England coach Thomas Tuchel explained that Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka leaving his camp early was beneficial for them, and on that assessment, Arteta added: “We have very good communication and relationships with most of the national teams, certainly with Thomas.
“We’ve been extremely supportive, and when you have to communicate the state of every player, we are always very honest. At the end there is a medical decision that has to be made and it is clear what the conclusion was.”
Separately, William Saliba (France), Gabriel (Brazil) and Leandro Trossard (Belgium) all withdrew from their squads at the start of the break.
Arsenal return to action with the trip to Southampton on before travelling to face Sporting CP in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday, April 7.
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