Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has indicated that the injury Bukayo Saka suffered against Lens does not look good at all.
Bukayo Saka could be facing a spell on the sidelines after going down injured in Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at Lens.
That is the view of boss Mikel Arteta, who was speaking after Arsenal slipped to a surprise defeat in France.
Gabriel Jesus fired Arsenal in front as Saka snatched possession in the Lens half and set up the Brazilian to score.
Arsenal’s lead lasted just over 10 minutes though as Adrien Thomassen produced a stunning finish to haul Lens level.
Elye Wahi then won it for Lens, sweeping the ball beyond David Raya to seal a famous 2-1 win for the Ligue 1 side.
Bukayo Saka injury a real concern
Arsenal won’t be panicking in terms of their Champions League aspirations but will be worried about winger Saka.
Arsenal’s star man went down with an injury in the first half and had to be substituted immediately.
The Gunners face Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend and there is now a real chance that Saka misses out.
Norwegian reporter Arilas Ould-Saada has taken to Twitter to claim that he spoke to Mikel Arteta in Lens straight after the game and the Arsenal boss delivered a worrying update.
“It doesn’t look good,” said Arteta, according to Ould-Saada.
Arteta went into greater detail with Football London, stating that Saka felt a muscle problem after attempting a back heel and the injury was ‘big enough’ for Arsenal to take him off the pitch immediately.
“He tried to backheel a ball in the first half and he felt something. It was something muscular. He wasn’t able to carry on and we had to take him off,” said Arteta. “We don’t know anything more than that. It was big enough for us to remove him.”
Saka injury has been waiting to happen
We can only hope that Saka’s injury isn’t serious; he’s one of the best players in the Premier League and the game is better with him in it.
This has been coming for a while though with Saka continually playing through injury.
The Daily Mail reported in September that Saka had been playing through an Achilles injury which was even a problem last season.
We get it, many players are carrying knocks and niggles most of the time.
Achilles issues can be terrible though and it’s one thing to manage injuries, but it’s another to play on them every single week and then into midweek games.
Saka has played so many games for club and country with barely any rest and a more significant injury than just a knock has been waiting to happen.
The 22-year-old is so good and so dependable that we can understand why Arteta kept playing him again and again, but maybe this injury blow – coupled with the knocks recently reported – will prompt a rethink moving forward.
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