Arsenal have been dealt a major blow after Mikel Arteta confirmed the Bukayo Saka injury will keep the winger out for ‘weeks’ with the quad problem he picked up against Bayern Munich. The 25-year-old winger will miss Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Hull City at the Emirates Stadium, and he has also been left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the November internationals.
Saka has not played since limping off inside the opening 10 minutes of Arsenal’s 2-2 Champions League draw at Bayern on 21 October, with Eberechi Eze replacing him in Munich. The injury has now kept him out of Arsenal’s last four matches. It is the second injury blow for a star forward in 24 hours, after Victor Osimhen was ruled out of Nigeria’s AFCON qualifiers and scheduled for knee surgery.
Arteta: “We’re talking about weeks”
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, the Arsenal manager was blunt when asked how long his star man would be missing. “We’re talking obviously about weeks,” Arteta said. “Let’s see after the international break. He’s going to start hitting the pitch and start to have more activity and see how he feels, but unfortunately he’s going to be out for a while.”
Arteta added that he does not want to rush the winger back: “I don’t want to put these guys under too much pressure. They are doing their best to get him fit. Bukayo is desperate to get back with the team, but it’s still quite early.”
Bukayo Saka injury: the games he could miss
The timing could hardly be worse for the Gunners. After Hull visit the Emirates on Saturday, the Premier League pauses for the international break, and Saka will sit out England’s Nations League games against Croatia and Spain. Early reports suggested a minimum absence of six weeks, which would put the winger in doubt for the huge run that follows the break: a trip to Newcastle on 21 November, the home meeting with Manchester City on 29 November, the north London derby and a Champions League date with Real Madrid on 9 December.
Arsenal will hope the winger’s recovery gathers pace once he resumes running after the break, but Arteta refused to name any of those fixtures as a target, and the club has put no official timeframe on his comeback.
The international break at least gives Saka a clear window to step up his rehabilitation without missing further club fixtures, and Arsenal’s medical team will assess him again once he resumes running. For now, though, Arteta must plan without the winger who has carried so much of his side’s attacking threat, and the next fortnight will show whether the squad’s depth can cover for its star man while he works his way back to fitness.
Who fills in on the right?
Arteta’s options on the right flank are thin. Max Dowman is serving the second game of a three-match suspension, which leaves Noni Madueke as the only natural right-wing option available against Hull. There was better news elsewhere in the squad, with Ezri Konsa declared fit after coming off with an issue in midweek, while William Saliba is also available and in contention for France.
Saka’s absence is a test of Arsenal’s title credentials at a delicate moment. The Gunners sit level with Manchester City on 19 points after eight games, and they head into the weekend fresh from a 1-0 win at Liverpool. How they cope without their most reliable attacker, starting with Hull at home — see our today’s predictions for the weekend’s fixtures — will say plenty about whether this squad can stay the course while its star man recovers.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) — Chensiyuan; Bryan Berlin / WikiPortraits — collage by SportsBuddy
