Cedric Soares is a big doubt for Arsenal’s North London Derby with Tottenham on Sunday after suffering a hip injury in Thursday’s draw with Liverpool, football.london understands.
The 30-year-old picked up a problem just seconds into the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg at Anfield, that ended goalless, and was replaced early on with Calum Chambers slotting it at right-back.
football.london understands that Cedric is now a doubt for Sunday’s North London Derby showdown with Spurs, leaving Mikel Arteta with even more injury problems to contend with.
Arsenal will monitor the Portuguese defender’s pain over the next day and make a decision closer to the time whether he is able to take part.
If Cedric does miss out, then the Gunners could be without nine first-team players for the match with Tottenham.
Martin Odegaard tested positive for Covid-19 before the Liverpool draw, Granit Xhaka is suspended after picking up a red card, Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu are both struggling with respective injuries.
Meanwhile, Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mohamed Elneny are all representing their countries at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Now, Arsenal players are being tested and assessed ahead of Sunday's clash due to the high number of absentees, football.london has been told.
The Gunners are yet to make a formal request to the Premier League for the match to be postponed, with any request dependent on the test results. Arsenal's players and staff are all being tested at London Colney today.
Arteta, when speaking after Wednesday’s goalless stalemate with Liverpool, remained coy on the situation but admitted a postponement is a possibility.
He said: “I don’t know (whether the game will be called off). It is a possibility in every game from our side, the opponent’s side because of the amount of issues that every team is having. We’re trying to prepare for the game as usual. It is what it is.”
