Bukayo Saka will miss “up to four weeks” with the hamstring injury he suffered early in the second half against Leeds United, reports BBC Sport. That timetable means he’ll definitely miss this coming weekend against Liverpool and England duty over the international break (boo-hoo, right?). If it’s the full month on the shelf, Saka would miss the first match after the break against Nottingham Forest before potentially being available to face Manchester City. That’s not great but it could be worse.
After the match, Mikel Arteta said, “ I haven’t spoke to the doctor yet but for Bukayo to come off, it’s significant.” The “significant” part had people panicked, reading it as Arteta saying Saka had a significant injury. I read it as the manager saying, in essence, he’s a tough guy so it must be something as opposed to nothing — that he plays through a lot and so if he’s not playing through it, it means he can’t play through it.
The Arsenal winger pulled up after attempting to break away from a defender just outside the box. He grabbed at his left hamstring (not the same one from last season) and walked off slowly under his own power. Given Saka’s four-month absence after hamstring surgery last season, I understand the worry at seeing him forced off like that. Heck, I was worried too! It kept me from fully enjoying the 5-0 win.
You can’t make up for missing a player of Bukayo Saka’s quality in your lineup. He’s one of the best wingers in the world and arguably the most “complete player” at the position. But Arsenal spent the summer adding attacking talent, likely spurred by having their season undone by injuries exposing a lack of depth last year. With Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze, and Viktor Gyökeres in the fold, as well as Ethan Nwaneri set to play a bigger role, the Gunners are better equipped to weather the absences of Saka, Ødegaard (who is having a scan today but isn’t thought to have a serious injury), and Kai Havertz (the severity of his knee injury has yet to be reported).
With Saka out of the lineup, you’d expect Madueke to play right wing with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard seeing most of the time on the left. If Nwaneri isn’t covering for Ødegaard, you might see him on the right wing too, although it seems like the plan is to shift him to the middle either way.
