Arsenal receive defensive injury boost ahead of Wolves clash

Italian full-back Calafiori was due to be in the starting line-up against Wigan in the FA Cup on Sunday, only to pull out shortly before kick-off.

It was the fourth time a Gunners player has picked up a problem in the warm-up this season.

William Saliba twisted his ankle prior to kick-off at Liverpool in September, Bukayo Saka had to withdrew from the team at Leeds in January, and Calafiori also suffered an injury in the warm-up ahead of the Brighton match in December.

Boss Mikel Arteta admits he needs to get to the bottom of the sphere of pre-match niggles which could hinder their title bid.

“Yeah, big time,” he said. “They were very different. The first one was with Willy when he rolled his ankle against Liverpool.

“Then we had two incidents with Ricky in the warm-up in a really similar way. The other one was with Bukayo after he stayed in midweek and didn’t play against Kairat Almaty and then against Leeds he had that incident. Very unusual.

“It’s probably happened once or twice I think in six years I’ve been here, and (now) it’s happened four times. So obviously we are looking into it.

“Sometimes, as well, you want to try and test a player before to make sure that he’s ready and the warm-up is another opportunity to do that.

“Bukayo was very random because he never gave any symptoms or signals away that this could happen in the warm-up. But it is what it is. We have to learn.

“I’m more aware of it. We’re in the office and the moment I hear my door and someone is stepping in I’m like ‘no, please’.

“Because it’s a moment that is very tricky, because when you change Ricky for Bukayo you have to change a lot of things within the gameplan. There’s a lot of things that are different and you have two minutes to do that.

“You have to be ‘what if, what if’ and there are more and more what ifs just before the game and then a lot during the game. So you just need to be more prepared.”

Ben White went off during the 4-0 win over Wigan but he too will be available at Molineux.

“It was just a bit of fatigue,” added Arteta. “He did a lot in the game and by the end he was feeling a bit of tightness in the hamstring, but he’s fine.”

Captain Martin Odegaard and forward Kai Havertz are likely to miss out against Wolves but could be fit for Sunday’s north London derby at Tottenham.

“For Wolves (Odegaard) is not going to be fit, but for Sunday we are very hopeful that he can be with us.

“Kai is the other one, but again for the weekend he’s a possibility, so we are looking forward to having him in the squad.”