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Before Wednesday’s Premier League matchup between Arsenal and Luton Town at the Emirates, Mikel Arteta has given the most recent update on the fitness of Arsenal’s attacker, Bukayo Saka.
The 22-year-old, who had to withdraw from his England assignment due to a persistent muscle ailment, was cleared to begin Sunday’s top-of-the-table showdown against Manchester City.
Saka, nevertheless, was unable to reach his full potential during the Gunners’ 0-0 tie with the champs, largely due to Josko Gvardiol’s outstanding performance at left-back.
As a result, he departed the field with the physiotherapist in the second half.
This season, it has become common to see the winger carefully hobble to the sidelines.
However, Arteta insisted before the game that there had been no recurrence of his prior injury, just exhaustion.
However, given the short turnaround time, Saka’s forced withdrawal has raised hopes that he may be rested for Wednesday’s match against Luton.
Arteta was questioned about the winger’s status during Tuesday’s news conference.
When asked if he would think about dropping Saka from the starting XI, the Spaniard said, “Yeah, he’s fine,” but he held his cards close to his chest.
“Obviously, we haven’t trained. We’ve healed and will get ready for the game with a quick live session today. We’ll see if he’s ready to go from the starting lineup or not.
All we’re focused about is beating Luton, so we’re getting ready for the match as best we can.”
In addition, Arteta emphasised that fellow winger Gabriel Martinelli, who returned from injury as a late replacement on Sunday, would be well enough to play through the middle of the week.
“He is because he was available to play against a really tough opponent three days ago,” Arteta said. Once more, we’ll work out today, assess each player’s condition, and decide appropriately the following day.”
Only Jurrien Timber, who suffered an ACL injury, should be sidelined due to injury this week, but Arteta is hopeful that the former Ajax player will be back playing for the first team before the season concludes.
He has a solid chance, in my opinion. Although I’m not sure of the exact %, I believe he has a decent chance and will exert all of his effort. He’s back training and doing great.
He’s not far off, but the last stage is that he hasn’t played any minutes, so does he really need to play in two or one under-21 match?
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“We need to see how long he takes to finish his training with us, so we will have to wait and watch. This final step can be difficult and require some time. Ideally, as quickly as feasible.”
Saka was without a natural replacement on the right flank against Man City, but Arteta shouldn’t be afraid to make a few changes on Wednesday with only Timber in the infirmary.
Reiss Nelson is the lone true like-for-like replacement on the right wing, but Saka’s fellow alumnus of Hale End, along with Cedric Soares and Mohamed Elneny, was one of three players kept out of the starting lineup for the match against Man City due to tactical considerations.
Rather, Fabio Vieira has also gained experience on the right-hand side, but Martinelli held the fort here for the last moments of the Etihad stalemate and might do so from the start given Arteta’s declarations that he can play until the entire ninety minutes.
Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus, who both played on the left on Easter Sunday, could instead go to the flanks for Wednesday’s match. If Arsenal wins, they would reclaim the top spot in the standings, setting up a meeting between Liverpool and Sheffield United on Thursday.
