ARSENAL MANAGER MIKEL Arteta has revealed Bukayo Saka will be sidelined for “many weeks”.
Saka suffered a hamstring injury in Arsenal’s 5-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Asked about the 23-year-old England international’s condition, Arteta said: “It is not looking good. He will be out for many weeks.”
Saka was filmed leaving Selhurst Park on crutches, souring what had been a comprehensive second win over the Eagles in four days after Gabriel Jesus’ hat-trick secured Arsenal’s passage to the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Arteta said after Saturday’s match: “He felt something in his hamstring. He couldn’t continue. He will have to be assessed, so I’m pretty worried about that one.
“It’s very difficult to (give a prognosis) now. They have tested him inside but it’s very difficult to say how bad it is.
“We lost Raheem (Sterling) yesterday (Friday), we don’t know for how long as well, so to lose two players in 24 hours is not good.
“Unfortunately with the amount of games that we are playing, every three days with this schedule, it doesn’t surprise me, but the team will react to that.”
Saka is crucial cog in Arsenal’s attack, scoring five Premier League goals and providing 10 assists this season, and his absence will be keenly felt.
Arteta said he was “putting some ideas together” about how to cope in the winger’s absence.
“We went through the period with Martin (Odegaard) and the period with five, six defenders missing,” he said. “We’re taking it with positive energy.”
Arsenal, who have finished as Premier League runners-up over the past two seasons, host relegation-threatened Ipswich on Friday.
The Gunners are third in the Premier League table, six points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.
With reporting by – © AFP 2024
Predictable enough, was thrown back in and overworked given the hamstring injury he already had. Needed to be managed better, hopefully he comes back when he’s right and isn’t rushed.
I have never known so many muscle injuries some pretty bad 1s to the best players. Saka will be missed as long as Liverpool keep there out field players fit it’s hard to get against them this season. It’s a season were injuries has caused big issues for City and Arsenal. I do wonder what will happen with Chelsea might be Liverpool’s biggest rivals.