Arsenal are ‘really concerned’ about the status of Bukayo Saka’s hamstring, Mikel Arteta has admitted, as an injury to the Gunners striker threatened to hamper a significant win for Arsenal over Crystal Palace.
Saka limped off in the 24th minute of an impressive 5-1 win, with the England international nursing his hamstring on his way to the Selhurst Park dressing rooms. Hamstring problems have loomed large for Saka in recent months, forcing him to withdraw from international duty in October and also rearing their ugly head in a match against Chelsea. Saka was then depicted leaving the ground on crutches.
“He felt something in his hamstring, he couldn’t continue,” Arteta said in his post-match press conference. “He will have to be assessed but we are quite concerned. They have tested him indoors but it is difficult to say how bad it is.”
Without any idea of a timetable, Arsenal will be hoping for the kind of quick recovery that rarely accompanies hamstring problems. Saka has proven to be an iron man for his club, appearing in all four Premier League matches since the start of the 2021-2022 season. Missing Ipswich’s visit to the Emirates Stadium on December 27 may not be a major challenge for Arsenal, but after that the Gunners travel to Brentford and Brighton. The matches then really go a step further with the EFL Cup semi-final first leg against Newcastle, an FA Cup third round meeting with Manchester United and Premier League home games against Tottenham and Aston Villa.
Saka is not the first key striker to suffer a major injury in what has often seemed like a Premier League season where everything that could break against Arteta did. Martin Odegaard missed more than two months after injuring his ankle on international duty with Norway in early September, a period when Saka was under immense pressure in attack. He did this exceptionally and left the field as the league’s top assist giver on 10, with a further five goals to his name.
Like Odegaard, Arsenal have no such thing as a comparable backup for Saka, not only their most dangerous goal threat, but also by far their most effective way of moving the ball into dangerous areas. Arteta does have options, though, some of which have proven only vaguely intriguing in the past week.
During that time, Gabriel Jesus scored five goals against Crystal Palace and excelled as a striker after a long, barren spell. The Brazilian has also been trusted by Arteta on the right flank, most notably in the win against Manchester City early last season, but could rightly be expected to keep his place at the point of Arsenal’s attack. When Saka came off the field today it was Gabriel Martinelli who switched to the right, scored in the second half and drove to the byline in the move that led to Kai Havertz scoring his side’s third.
Neither of them are on Saka’s level, but that’s not a huge surprise. No team has one of the three or four best players in the Premier League as a back-up. Arsenal will have to hope this is just a fleeting absence.