Fabrizio Romano gives huge Riccardo Calafiori update for North London Derby

It has been all over the news: Riccardo Calafiori was a doubt to feature for Italy in the international break of November, due to some discomfort.

It was a knock or overload, and it was not confirmed whether the player will feature until Sunday, where Italy manager Gennaro Gattusso confirmed that the player will return to Arsenal before their second match - which turned out to be a 4-1 loss to Norway.

Well, Fabrizio Romano also commented on the situation on Sunday, giving an answer as to whether the player will feature against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

According to the journalist, the player has just got an overload, and it has been confirmed that it was not a serious injury.

So, Calafiori is officially expected to play against Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Calafiori is expected to play for Arsenal against Tottenham

It is a huge boost for Arsenal, who are already sweating trying to recover the number of players missing from training due to injury.

Players like Gabriel - who is a fresh absentee from the international break - Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, and others have missed a number of games for the Gunners so far this season, and it is good that Calafiori will not join that list.

Gattusso even confirmed that they wanted to be fair to Arsenal as well as the player, which is why Calafiori did not feature. Gattusso said that the Arsenal defender 'probably could've played', but ended up going back to London.

He said: "We tried Calafiori, he had a few issues. I thank him for his commitment. He stayed here for a week, he could have played perhaps, but it wouldn’t have been fair to him or Arsenal.”

That is excellent load management for a player who was clearly going through some sort of discomfort, but it was not enough to warrant a week or two out from club football action.

However, it is good that Calafiori got this deserved rest, and will get the next few days to recover and train with the coaching staff ahead of the important game.

It is also worth noting that this is the same thing that Brazil are getting criticism for. Gabriel's game time needed to be managed properly during the international break, but it was not, and as a result, he has sustained a muscular injury.

Arsenal fans can just be glad that Calafiori did not have the same fate.