FPL notes: Calafiori + Rice injury updates as Arsenal crash out
There are 13 Premier League clubs in EFL Cup action this week – and we’ll be bringing you up to speed on the Fantasy talking points from each of their fourth-round ties.
We start, in this article, with Arsenal.
They were the only top-flight team playing on Tuesday night, and they probably wish they weren’t now. The reigning Premier League champions slipped to an embarrassing exit to League Two side Fleetwood Town, who prevailed on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
Mikel Arteta rotated heavily for this clash so, as ever, the takeaways from the Carabao Cup are less about what happened on the pitch than who didn’t feature and what was said off it.
First, the good news: most of the key FPL assets either didn’t feature at all or had second-half cameos. Viktor Gyokeres (£7.0m) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (£5.4m) were the only Gameweek 8 starters who kept their places, and neither of those is guaranteed to be in the line-up come Gameweek 9.
Gabriel Magalhaes (£7.9m) and David Raya (£6.2m) had the night off completely, while Ezri Konsa (£4.7m) only appeared as an 82nd-minute substitute. Martin Odegaard (£6.7m) and Ben White (£5.4m) had a bit longer, coming on at the interval.
There were medical issues why Riccardo Calafiori (£6.0m), Declan Rice (£7.4m) and Noni Madueke (£6.2m) missed out, however. Calafiori had picked up a “light” issue (thought to be his hip/ribs) when coming off the bench against Everton, while Rice was nursing his hamstring in the same game. Arteta confirmed the trio weren’t able to feature against the Cod Army.
“Calafiori was out, Noni was out with an ankle, and Declan was feeling a problem the other day, which is why I had to substitute him.” – Mikel Arteta
Football London, interestingly, suggest that there is “genuine concern” that Calafiori could miss Sunday’s clash with Liverpool. Lewis-Skelly and Piero Hincapie (£5.2m), the Italian’s two deputies at left-back, did both start this cup tie, however. Would Arteta have risked both, knowing that that Calafiori could sit out Gameweek 9? Football London also reports that Rice, who trained on Monday, and Madueke should be fit.
In more good news for the Premier League regulars, their understudies flopped. Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera (£5.2m) looked rusty, while Jurrien Timber (£6.5m) came off at the break. It’ll be interesting to hear if there was a reason (eg fitness) behind that decision.
Kai Havertz‘s (£7.5m) poor start to the season continued, meanwhile. Operating in the ‘hole’ behind Gyokeres, he had a succession of chances (seven shots in total), and fluffed his lines on each occasion. There were a couple of ’50p’ headed efforts, while more composure was needed to find an almost empty net – only for his smashed effort to deflect over off the head of a Fleetwood defender.
Gyokeres at least opened his account for 2026/27, turning in a scruffy equaliser.
Arsenal did have enough chances to win, in truth. As well as Havertz’s flurry of attempts, Gyokeres was inches away from tapping in a Max Dowman (£5.3m) cross-shot and White should have won the game from six yards. Odegaard was a creative spark after his introduction, carving out three chances. The game finished 26-3 on shots to the visitors!
Fleetwood, meanwhile, scored from their only shot of the first 82 minutes, when Aaron Loupalo-Bi rolled Marli Salmon to put the Football League side 1-0 up.
“I have nothing to fault the players for their attitude and intensity throughout the game, with 11 and with 10, but when you are playing in that superior way, you have to give nothing to the opponent. When we create the volume of shots and chances we did, you have to score three, four or five. You capitalise on it. If you don’t, there are no margins, and that’s the reality.” – Mikel Arteta
As Arteta alluded to there, Arsenal went down to 10 men in this match. A act of petulance saw Dowman see red for violent conduct, and the Arsenal boss fumed at the teenager on the touchline. Nevertheless, the Gunners are appealing that dismissal.
As for the penalty shootout, Odegaard, Havertz and Gyokeres all scored theirs. No surprise that those three got the nod, as they’ve all taken regulation-time spot-kicks for Arsenal in recent years. Bruno Guimaraes (£6.7m) missed his effort from 12 yards, however.
One other positive for FPL managers? Arsenal now have a free midweek between Gameweeks 15 and 16, while will be welcome after a run of eight matches in 23 days:
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