Bukayo Saka has suffered a major injury and has dealt a huge blow to Arsenal’s hopes for this season.
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Saka was injured during Arsenal’s 5-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday and was seen leaving Selhurst Park on crutches.
Speaking after Friday’s 1-0 win over Ipswich Town, Mikel Arteta confirmed that Saka had surgery on his hamstring and is set for “more than two months” outside the Arsenal lineup.
What is the latest Bukayo Saka injury news?
Arteta has now added a “many” to his prior comments when he spoke prior to Arsenal’s game against Ipswich, when he confirmed that Saka’s injury is a bad one — a tear of his hamstring muscle.
“It is not looking good. He is going to be out for many weeks,” Arteta said. “It could have been much worse. It could have been something else that can take you out for a year … I’m very optimistic that he will be back before the end of the season.”
Arteta then added that Arsenal must step up to the challenge of playing with their star player for several weeks.
“It’s a huge blow,” Arteta said. “Obviously he’s a big player for us. You just have to see the impact that he has on the team, but it’s going to be a really good exercise for all of us to think about ways to overcome another challenge, because we’ve already had a lot in the season.”
What does this mean for Arsenal’s title hopes?
This injury to Saka is a nightmare for Arsenal.
Saka and Martin Odegaard are Arsenal’s two key players and just as they’d got themselves back into the title race, this happens to Saka.
When Odegaard went down with an injury they suffered massively and didn’t look the same in attack due to his partnership with Saka and the creativity they bring as a duo. With Saka out, Arsenal’s attack will be impacted massively.
Now it’s up to the likes of Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard, Havertez and Nwaneri to make sure the Gunners can withstand the absence of their star attacker as Raheem Sterling is also out injured.
It seems likely either Martinelli or Jesus will start on the right in the meantime as that won’t disrupt Arsenal’s attacking unit too much.
