Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Bukayo Saka is facing “many weeks” on the sidelines after tearing his hamstring in Saturday’s 5-1 win over Crystal Palace.
The loss of the England international is compounded by the news that Raheem Sterling, who was signed as backup on loan from Chelsea in the summer, sustained a knee injury in training last week and is also facing “weeks” out.
Updating the media on the fitness of Saka, he said: “He’s not looking good, he’s going to be out for many weeks.”
And on Sterling, he added: “He’s going to be out for weeks, I believe. He needs some further testing tomorrow to understand the extent of the injury. It’s his knee and we have to wait another 24 hours but, unfortunately, he’s going to be out for a while.”
As the games come thick and fast, the challenge for the Spaniard is finding solutions amongst a squad that has already been stretched to the limit this season.
“We have to look internally at what we have and be creative,” he added. “Do a very good exercise again. How can we mould the squad? How can we adapt to the circumstances and be different? We cannot pretend to be the same.
“We’re going to have to be different and try to find the best way to do it. And be very competitive and win a lot of games.”
Despite the news being a clear “a big blow” to Arsenal’s title ambitions – the Gunners have it all to do to close a six-point gap on Liverpool – the manager is trying to put a positive spin on things, pointing out that his side have overcome the loss of key players many times before.
“It’s going to be a really good exercise for all of us to think about ways to overcome another challenge because we already have a lot in the season.”
“I’m putting some ideas together,” he continued. “I haven’t got there yet, but I have a few.
“Then I want to speak with them [the players] as well to understand how we’re going to generate that and take it in a positive way because that’s going to mean that we’re going to be different.
“We went through the period with Martin [Odegaard injured]. We went through the period with five or six defenders missing.
“We went through the period without many other players. We will continue to do that, finding ways and taking it with positive energy. That’s it.”
Having mostly avoided serious injuries since breaking into the Arsenal starting lineup at 17, it sounds like Saka will need some time to process the situation.
“You can tell that he’s not been injured [seriously before] because he was really, really emotional. He was really down. And we need to lift him up because it’s part of what we do.
“It’s part of what he does. It’s part of his job. A big part of his job. And he will be fine. I think he’s going to need a few days.”
In time, Arteta hopes the injury will aid his development: “At some stage, at this level, you’re going to get injured. Unfortunately, [it’s often] badly. It could have been much worse. It can be something else that can take you out for a year.
“It’s how you react to that, how you overcome that situation. It’s a great learning process for him as well. I take it this way. It is what it is. He’s injured. We cannot change it.”
He added: “He’s going to immediately realise that he’s so important in that dressing room.
“So, his energy level, his body language, the way he communicates with the rest of the team has to be really, really good because it’s the only way at the moment that he can help. So, he better do that well.”
Given the transfer window opens in a week, Arsenal may well be tempted to recruit cover. That said, they won’t be able to sign another player on loan as they’ve already filled their two-man quota with Sterling and goalkeeper Neto.
On shopping in January, Arteta said: “My intention right now is to, within the team, what we have, get the best out of that. What is outside is not in our control.”
Interestingly, he made clear that his backroom team, currently being led by interim sporting director Jason Ayto, have already done their homework ahead of the window.
“The preparation is done and we are ready if something happens. Obviously, we didn’t predict the situation with Bukayo and Raheem. At the same time, we predicted more if something else happened, for example, in the defensive line. But the job is done and, OK, if something has to happen, we will be open.
“But the main focus now is how we extract still a lot of potential that there is in this squad.”
Not even January yet and our season is properly over.
Makes me sick how unfair football can be, we just can’t have nice things.
Winning the league or not is not and should never be our whole season. Yes, Liverpool look very good but even if you take the view a few key injuries might stop us overhauling a 6, potentially 9, point gap – there are 3 other competitions, two of which we’re doing brilliantly in. We have arguably the best back 5 in world football and in Rice and Odegaard I don’t even think it is arguable we have the best two players in their position, noting Rodri’s injury. With all due respect to Saka and everything he brings, we can still… Read more »
Although I respect it, I can’t share the source of your positivity. To me this seems nothing more than coping mechanism and clinging on to (delusional) hope. In the 15 years I’d been supporting this club I’ve never thought of a realistically bigger chance to win the league after the City fall off and the fact that it’s not happening again feels extremely disappointing. This was the chance and we can’t capitalize on it. Winning the CL is probably the most difficult achievment in football so wouldn’t get my hopes up there. Fa and or Carabao cup would be nice… Read more »
You didn’t think we had a shot the season leicester won it?
I think the PL is harder than the CL. A crappy Chelsea side won the CL after finishing something like 6th in the PL. TOTTENHAM made a final! It is difficult, but it is still a knockout comp, and it may be Arsenal’s time. Don’t give up!
Two things, maybe three.
One. Saka gets something akin to a rest.
Two. He might promote Nwaneri to the position.
Three. We might find someone yummy in the January window.
The thing is it’s not like we’ve got idiots in charge of the situation, we’ve got people who know what they’re doing. And losing Saka for “many weeks” isn’t season-ending for him or our title hopes.
In a perverse, evil, what-the-fuck way it’s kind of exciting.
100%
Yes, the best player of the season and of the last few years for us being injured and sidelined is indeed exciting! I get it, optimism!
Positivity is a mindset, same as negativity. Like you build your body through exercise, you need to do the same work with your mind to overcome the tendencies and thinking routines your subconscious mind feeds your conscious mind. Without this work, people will become stuck in their tendencies without little understanding how the universe actually works. Life is free will and choices, everyone has the power to choose. Hope that helps. There are books on this stuff if and when you ever want to choose. Arteta speaks about this quite a bit. He has read the books.
Didn’t Arsenal score 3 goals after he was taken off. He is good but other players can step up if needed.
The issue, for me, is the thinning attacking options and not what happened after Saka went off at Selhurst Park.
Martinelli and Trossard have a history of injuries too; with Saka and Sterling out, the pressure on them increases. Can they take the more minutes required of them now without breaking down themselves? Fingers crossed.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👊🏾
Liverpool haven’t lost Salah yet to injury or dip of form, so far Salah made 70% of liverpool goals and assists. Virgil wont go entire season with this form without injury or dip of form, both he and Salah way past 30, so i am not sure we are out of title race yet, and Saka as effective as he can be is still replacable, the only player who is irreplaceable to is Odegaard, that one area we need to address preferably in January.
Yep. Seasons pretty much cooked. It was a while ago tbf. Courtesy of a sub par transfer window, injuries, bent refs and inconsistent form. Technically we’re still in it, but I am sure most people, including the players and the manager, know that you can’t win the biggest competitions without your best players unless you are outrageously lucky (not a strong chance of that for us). We’ll have missed Saka and Odegaard for at least 25 games come the end of the season. Take just Salah out of that Liverpool team for half of that time and they are nowhere… Read more »
Glad you’re not in the dressing room to infect the players with your pessimism. Granted that Saka is one of our best players, great teams find ways to win their games even in the absence of such players. See you back soon, Bukayo, but we march on. COYG!!!!
Jeremy, bringing the good vibes as always.
😂
A bastion of positivity.
My god, the whiny-ness and entitlement of this post turns my stomach. Ergh. Get a grip.
How exactly is wanting the best for my team entitlement, especially this year when we seemed to have everything in place to achieve something truly great?
Don’t listen to him, you are absolutely allowed to feel how you want. There are a hand full of people on here who are seemingly uncomfortable with the idea of Arsenal winning something again and like to dictate to others how they should feel. I don’t really understand the psychology behind it tbh….maybe it’s a control thing.
Alright, I’ll bite. It’s a slow day in the office, let me answer your (again hugely whiny) question. “Wanting the best for my team” wasn’t anywhere in your original post. If you’d said that I would agree with you. However, what you actually said was, that the season was already over (whining, and 100% not true) and you are sick how unfair things are (whining and entitlement) and why can’t you have nice things (entitlement). Here’s some reality for you, seeing as you live world where everything is unfair: We’re the 3rd biggest club in the country. We’re 3rd in… Read more »
All the things you’ve mentioned about Arsenal being a big club with a great history players and manager, having the ability to contend + attract 100M talent are certainly true but I’ve never stated the opposite. I can even mostly agree with what you’ve said about the ownership, however I could argue that the Kroenkes are not good people and their hypercapitalistic nature gobbling up clubs in different sports is just the lesser evil compared to oil states and oligarchs. But you’ve conveniently left out the part that all of the above also rings true when it comes to Liverpool,… Read more »
You are absolutely spot on here. It’s not entitlement. We’ve had years of this club dropping the ball when they’re on the precipice of success. It is very irritating.
Mate, Liverpool haven’t won anything yet and their pre-Covid drought was longer than ours. They are top of the tree at Xmas, but so were we last year. I’m not trying to dictate your feelings, but cheer tf up. OK, maybe I am dictating somewhat, but we’re still in with a shout – in everything!
Lol. We’re not exactly owned by exemplary humans either. More sanctimony from people who think they’re moral authorities on how to be a fan.
Brutal, grinding reality. No thanks, that’s what the rest of my day is like, when it comes to football I want to feel a different and more positive emotion, a bit more fantasy and dreaming, not ‘it’s better than supporting Swindon Town’.
Nothing wrong with wanting the best from the team. However it’s your negativity in writing us off which is why people are criticising you. We’ve never been a one man team.
You can’t selectively take luck into account. If this year was our best chance because City are shit because of injuries, then it’s also not our best chance because we have been insanely unlucky with injuries and referees. You don’t get to pick and choose which chance events occur. Liverpool haven’t won the league yet. They have been incredibly fortunate so far, we have been incredibly unfortunate so far. We are only 6 points behind them. Assuming we’ve already lost the league at this point is like assuming you’re going to die because you got a runny nose.
‘Assuming we’ve already lost the league at this point is like assuming you’re going to die because you got a runny nose.’ Where to start with this one… lord have mercy.
Maybe start by looking at history and seeing that the team who is leading at Christmas does not always win the league. That’s why they keep playing games after Christmas. It really isn’t difficult to understand.
It’s too early to say with any certainty, yes, but would you honestly trust us to capitalize? Genuine question – I’m not trying to be gloomy or pessimistic.
I genuinely do. If you took the absolutely insane refereeing decisions we have been on the end of out of this season, we’d be at absolute worst 3 points behind Liverpool, and more than likely level. Liverpool haven’t had a single bit of bad luck or dodgy refereeing that I can think of. If the luck levels out over the season, I think we have a very good chance. Obviously I’d like to be where they are, but we are far from out of it.
I agree with you Matt. For example maybe Arteta will play Nwaneri on the right and he’ll step up and become the story of the season, or Liverpool could lose Salah and implode. Who knows!
Why? Guy desperately wants to see Arsenal win the league for the first time in his life and regardless of where the blame lies, he has every right to be disappointed that according to every logical metric, we will likely not achieve our goal even with the cheats imploding.
Sure but just imagine the players or the manager talking like that. Do you talk like that when you face a challenge in life?
The overwhelming majority of the challenges you are facing in “real life” are where you have some sort of control and influence over the situation.
Being a fan of a football club is clearly a powerless situation, making it more frustrating.
“Majority” is not the point. When you face a major challenge in life it is because you don’t have control (otherwise it would be a simple problem-solving matter wouldn’t it?).
The point is about how you respond to difficult situations.
Wait till he’s supported them for 60+ years – THEN he can talk about being “disappointed”!
That’s FOOTBALL, mate and you have to accept the good and the bad.
Right, they’re like a bunch of little kids whining because they didn’t get what they want.
One player isn’t a team, unless that player is Thierry Henry. The side will cope without saka, because we have to. This injury is a consequence on the overreliance on him, the schedule, and the greedy international federations. Sterling’s injury is of little consequence because he wasn’t providing anything to begin with.
Yes, everyone else needs to find their game in his absence. Stranger things have happened.
Saka is our Thierry Henry
He really isn’t though.
There has to be more games to play for the players salaries and agent fees, at club level
Cheer up all, we are the run in kings now. We will overtake pool in March and win the league by 9 points. I just hope we don’t go too early so we can win the league at anfield.
Saka was played in all matches including Carabao cup. And he is the same situation with the England team
Poor lad, feel sad how he is being run into the ground
Our season has just begun. Relax 😀
Needed to win last year- if you get close you need to do it. I am dead serious when I say have no expectation Arsenal will win a title before I die- I’m 54. I haver learned to value other parts of it- The games when we’re playing well, talking shit with my Arsenal mates, listening to the Arsecast, watching Spurs fuck up EVERY.GODAMNN.TIME. It’s all just something to take your mind off the crushing mundanity of everyday life and the inevitable approach of your own demise, anyway. That sounds terrible, but I actually find it somewhat comforting. Not joking.… Read more »
Hello.
Cole Palmer will not keep this form all season, not even Mo Salah will. Injuries, suspensions and Man-City-style collapses could happen to any of them. Our time will come, God willing.
Arteta is about to let the leash off like he did last year. Saka coming back in March will be the final nail in the coffin for the rest of the league.
It reminds me of when debruyne used to come back for the final run in.
But we still need to sign someone. We don’t want the players knackered for the last 8 weeks
It makes me sick how unfair life id every day
Feck.
Not to over-react or anything,
but we really need to stop the players breaking mirrors, underneath ladders.
no bad luck involved. the guy has played every minute for us in the past few seasons, with 2 euros finals and a world cup in between, and we still didn’t buy proper backup. even more so, the only backup he had is on loan (reiss nelson, a guy with 5 PL goals in his entire career). this is very bad planning and if anything, we’ve been lucky this didn’t happen before.
I hear you, but Saka has been so durable, it’s hard to complain.
It’s all the feckin Left backs…
We’re so screwed!!!
Time to see if Martinelli or Jesus can operate on the right, with a sprinkling of Nwaneri mixed in.
This means more playing time for Lewis Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri
this is exactly the context in which we discovered saka as well. i think nwaneri can do the job there. he looks ready
Yes. MLS – A League of His Own.
I think Martinelli did fine on the right vs C Pal and maybe starting there will turn around his fortunes. Same with Trossard. And while Saka is a huge loss, maybe Jesus will remain on a hot streak? If those three can “up their game” we can cope.
Get well soon Bakayo!
BTW, we dodged a bullet with Mudryk
At +80 million pounds it’s safe to say we dodged a ballistic missile.
Objectively a season without odegaard and saka playing in the same team much, shouldn’t be a title winning season.
But still strangely I feel we have everything to play for……
Domestic cups maybe. In terms of the league, you don’t need to hear a death rattle to know something’s going to likely die very soon.
Jeez I bet you play the grinch in your school panto.
If you think it’s completely impossible for the mighty Liverpool to drop 10 more points than us between now and the end of the season, you might not have noticed what has just happened to City. Liverpool might stay this good and this lucky for another 20 or so games. But it wouldn’t even register in the top 1000 weirdest things to happen in the premier league if they didn’t.
I can’t stand Liverpool but let’s give them their dues. Top of the CL, PL and only failed to win four games this season (one loss). To attribute their present run to luck is puerile at this point.
I clearly said they had been good. But they have also been lucky. Two things can be true. We have been good and unlucky. City have been bad an unlucky. Liverpool have been good and lucky.
I clearly said they had been good. But they have also been lucky. Two things can be true. We have been good and unlucky. City have been bad and unlucky. Liverpool have been good and lucky.
Spot on
Of course. Objectively you should be right. It ought take saka to get the title.
Let’s just see how far the others can go though.
God forbid if the whole squad had food poisoning the same day, some of you guys’ first reaction would still be claiming how it’s a great opportunity for the under 21 team to get some minutes under their belt.
I guess that would be the stance to take going forwards, if we lost our whole first squad!
I’m not at all surprised by the hamstring injury, it’s a classic symptom of being overplayed. Arteta consistently overuses Saka without adequate rotation. On top of that, Sterling hasn’t been given a fair chance since his arrival. If he isn’t deemed good enough, then why did we sign him in the summer window, especially knowing we needed proper cover? It’s frustratingly short-sighted.
Would you rather lose more games? The best players play.
Is there anyone feasible we can even get in January? Trossard was a good one two years ago, but is there another forward of his ilk available?
Mbuemo 1.5 years left on the contract, we’ve worked with Brentford before. Wouldn’t be the worst pick
Kolo Muani?
Gutted
It’s time for the squad to step up once again. Nobody has mentioned the possibility of playing a slightly different formation with Jesus on the right of a front 3. We have options, let’s hope they work
“Many weeks” not “many months”.
It could have been a lot worse.
While BS is a great player and one of our best, I think we should still be able to cope with the January fixtures without him.
Heads up Ginner fans. We can’t be downcasted with this bad news.
I still believe Liverpool is catchable. Spurs played into their hands yesterday. Not many time will be that generous.
…not many teams will be that generous
I think many weeks in this case means definitely more than a month, maybe as much as two, in which case you the have a slow period of easing in afterwards so we might not get full form Saka until March. At least I’m going to assume that and maybe hopefully get a positive surprise if he comes back earlier. It will need to be a combo of Martinelli and Nwaneri taking over that position now and I think both are ready to at least contribute 75% of what Saka does there. Martinelli in particular will enjoy playing on Odegaard’s… Read more »
Yes, 5 weeks is more than a months and that’s already many. He will be back when he’s healed. MA said: Let’s pull together and go forward. What’s wrong with it?
The main issue is that simply coping wouldn’t be enough considering the gap, we basically have to perform flawlessly in the 6-8 league games to have any realistic chance.
Which is not impossible for us, looking at the January fixtures.
I think we are in for a ride and a surprise from the team without Saka.
For me, I do not share and but all the negativity of ‘title chance over” cos we are missing Saka for some weeks.
I think Arsenal can cope with the absence of Saks than they can do with the absence of MØ.
But still, I would live us to have our complete team.
i don’t know wtf you guys talk about. it’s gonna be like 3 months before we start to see him again on the pitch. it’s like you’ve never seen a player instantly take the back of his leg before. best case scenario he’s back for our final run, that is without setbacks
The Raheem Sterling Experiment is a failure. The one time we need him, and he gets injured in training.
This was bound to happen at some stage and we can’t be reliant on one player for everything.
On the plus side, Martinelli played better from the right than he has on the left all season. Also the run of fixtures isn’t too bad for the next few weeks.
I want to see other players stepping up like Jesus and Martinelli have recently.
I love Arteta but I’m going to call him and Edu out on this one. I understand you can’t find another Saka because he’s one of a kind, but if we signed a credible natural wide forward in the summer (not Sterling) who was pushing him in terms of productivity, this wouldn’t be such an issue. We expect Saka to play almost every minute of every game 2/3 times a week and the same for England with no break in the summer and then act surprised when he breaks down finally. I said it back in the summer and I’ll… Read more »
„who was pushing him in terms of productivity“
ahh! i learn: saka needs to be pushed in terms of productivity…
I think we will all be surprised at the evolution and unpredictability of the team in the next few weeks without Saka.
I think one of our major problems this season has been the over reliance on Saka. As such, teams mark him out of game and we had no other solution.
Now that he is out of the team and other player stepping up, we might see a much improved Arsenal side capable of going on a winning run.
That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t miss Saka and we need him back ASAP.
I have seen Jesus play on the right against city and he was outstanding, I will move Jesus to either wings and keep Havertz in the middle/buy a striker. This is when I trust Arteta on his tactics, I think we played liverpool without both Saka and Odegaard and they were lucky to draw
Apologies Saka did play
I’m gonna get slagged off and downvoted for say this but this is what happens when you overplay your star player. Saka has played far too much football in this calendar year. Not only for us but for England too. We should have had a decent back up on the right to allow Saka the occasional break. Instead, he was run into the ground. The good thing is that the transfer window is about to open and maybe we can get someone in. BTW: has there ever been a more disastrous, pointless loan signing than Sterling? We should hand him… Read more »
It’s either play him or accumulate fewer points. If we’d lost games we won in the last year because Arteta rested a fit Saka, I doubt there’s be many fans saying “Too bad we lost, glad he didn’t play Saka though”.
Maybe you’re one of them.
Think you miss the point…we have no credible back up for Saka hence we run him into the ground. Rather than constantly whining about fkn injuries to our best players the squad management needs to improve immediately.
Name a match we lost when Saka rested , he hadn’t been rested
Agreed. Why has he even been involved in the League Cup and some of the home ECL games?
When we rotated players a couple if days ago you threw your toys out of the pram. And now you’re angry we don’t rotate players enough. Whatever anyone does, you think it’s wrong.
Rotating Havertz for Rice was a stupid gamble. Not like for like.
I think the problem goes to filling the summer break with football. Players used to get a couple of months to recover, but each year the calendar is bursting now.
Great point. It’s time that the PFA stepped in and demanded a limit to the number of games that a player can play in a season.
The players’ bodies are the tools of their trade: they should not be allowed to be bullied into ruining their sources of income.
Agents fees and player wages are paid for by more games .. chicken or the egg
Martinelli now on the right, might be a very good shift for him and for the team.
Embarrassing to see people write the season off because our best player is out for a while!
I don’t fancy us catching Liverpool, but after almost 5 years without silverware I wouldn’t sniff at the Carabao Cup, and with City mortal all of a sudden there’s not a team outside of Real Madrid that I wouldn’t fancy us against in the Champions League.
Cheer up, it’s Christmas!
Get well quick, Saka.❤️🙏🏽
Arsenal are still very much on for a cup treble, even if you give up on the league (and you shouldn’t). Liverpool are a Salah knock away from being half of what they are now, Arsenal still have to play them, and there is a lot of football between now and May. A Liverpool “wobble” of a back to back draw and loss could suddenly mean the gap is down to four.
The CL is VERY much on. Probably a bye past the first knockout phase, and Saka may well be back for the business end.
Just rest well and take care of your body B.
This is just the beginning of your journey at this club.
How much should we take Arteta’s words at face value — could these be mind games?
The way he went down, leaving on crutches etc, I doubt it. It looked a bad injury and it seems that is the case.
Get well soon Starboy. Hope this can speed up Nwaneri’s growth and give Saka some much needed time off. All I want for Christmas!
We should be seriously looking at the transfer window. Can we please do that lol.
Glass two thirds full; considering how routinely Saka gets chopped down and smashed virtually every single week we’ve been very fortunate this looks likely to be his first significant injury in 5+ years. Sometimes adversity brings out the best in a squad, let’s see how we do and wish him a speedy but not rushed recovery. He’ll still set the assist record.
Just need gabi Marti and gabi jesus to go fullscale Wiltord and Ljunberg in Pires absence, even chris Wreh
Definitely need to plan for anyone other than Sterling being the fill in. I’d rather have Martinelli move over or Nwaneri be giving a shot over Sterling. Of course we are going to be short talent off of the bench if Trossard and Martinelli start with only Jesus as an attacking option on the wing unless Arteta trusts Nwaneri there. We really need to get someone in that can play on the right in January.
Probably a balance of
………..MO8….MM23
Martinel……Kai….jesus
Or if we go champions league formation like we did v Palace
……………….Kai
Marti……..Jesus…..Leo
We have cover but essentially no winger as such on bench deffo Leo and Ethan can do jobs there but that outright wing play Saka gives will be missed .
You have overlooked that Havertz is damned good on the right, it might even be be his best position.
We don’t play him there because Saka, but it’s now an option if Jesus can keep up his recent form up front.
I am really gutted and pretty cool about Saka’s injury for many reasons. Without any doubt, he’s been our best player that can be relied upon to make something happen. In the same way the opposition focused so much on him looking at how to stop him all season . So right now the element of surprise is on us , this can work very well to our advantage. Secondly it’s a challenge for the team to proof that we are not a “one man “ team and put in extra shifts . Lastly Saka will come back earlier than… Read more »
We called for a winger and a striker, got none of that and now we are paying for it. I dont know why it didnt happen. Guess its life. Time for Martinelli to be that world class winger we all thought that he might be then. Remember when we won the leauge and Freddie Ljungberg stepped up big time?
Surely we can cut short Sterlings loan at this point?
I realise a ‘body’ in the squad is useful but this hasn’t worked in any way
Get dibling in january if nwaneri wont be starting