The absence of Bukayo Saka will significantly weaken Arsenal's attack. Photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images
No footballer can play in every match, and even for a tenacious young man like Bukayo Saka, that moment always came. The Arsenal winger has made a club-record 87 consecutive Premier League appearances, dodging injury as adeptly as he has dodged opposition defenders, but after Tuesday's 34-minute Champions League defeat at Lens it finally happened.
Trying to step back with your heel, tingling in your muscles, and then a grimace on your face. The severity of the problem was not immediately clear — it may still have been minor — but the mood at Arsenal was alarming. “Obviously it worries us,” Mikel Arteta said at his post-match press conference. In a separate television interview, the Arsenal manager admitted: «It doesn't look very good.»
The timing of Saka's injury, days before Arsenal's clash with Manchester City, could hardly have been worse. This raises some awkward questions for Arsenal and Arteta.
First of all, should Saka have played against Lance in the first place? He has limped off the pitch in the last two matches and Sunday's clash with City is the club's biggest game of the season so far. If there was ever a time to wrap it in cotton wool, would it be this week?
The counter-argument is that a Champions League match against a formidable French opponent is not the time for rotation. Arsenal have spent the last six years working to return to Europe's premier competition and they are determined to make their mark. This was not a close-out Europa League match and Saka, Arteta insisted, had no problems left after his weekend setback. «He was fine,» the Arsenal manager said.
How to replace the injured Saka?
The second question that will need to be answered if Saka is indeed sidelined for any significant period of time is whether Saka will be sidelined for any significant period of time. Arsenal can cope without him. The obvious truth is that no one can know because he has always been available, but Arsenal fear his absence will significantly weaken their attack.
Arsenal have spent years and hundreds of millions of pounds building a team they believe can challenge on multiple fronts. However, one glaring weakness remains: Saka's lack of quality support.
Every other attacking position at Arsenal has at least two players who could fit into Arteta's system. If, for example, Gabriel Jesus is unable to play, Eddie Nketiah will come on. If Martin Odegaard gets injured, Fabio Vieira and Emile Smith Rowe will fight for his place. The quality, of course, will deteriorate, but there will be no fundamental stylistic changes.
As for Saki, there is no one else. All other strikers prefer to play on the left, which speaks volumes about Arteta's thoughts that Saka was replaced by Vieira rather than Reiss Nelson when he limped off the pitch on Tuesday. Vieira is completely different from Saka, he is more of a wily playmaker than an explosive striker, and Arsenal's attack lacked venom and speed after the substitution.
Equally worrying is that no other player contributes as many decisive moments as Saka. . Arsenal have scored 22 goals in all competitions this season, with Saka scoring or assisting in 10 of them. Against Lens, he became the first player this season to score five goals and provide five assists for a team from Europe's top five leagues.
There have been attempts to sign another right winger in recent years. Arsenal wanted to buy Raphinha from Leeds United before he moved to Barcelona and have previously cast admiring glances at Wolves striker Pedro Neto. Depending on financial capabilities, this interest may be renewed in the coming months.
Arsenal sees striker Pedro Neto in Wolverhampton the perfect backup for Saki. Photo: Ruy Vieira/AP
Let's face it, the presentation is not easy. How do you convince a talented right winger to join a club where the star player in his position is a 22-year-old who never seems to miss a game? Arsenal need a player who is good enough to replace Saka when needed, but bad enough that they can't count on him to perform consistently. That middle ground may be difficult to find.
In the short term, assuming Saka does miss this weekend's match, there is a good chance Jesus will be pushed back to the right flank. Then Nketiah started in the center of Arsenal's attack. But without Saka and Gabriel Martinelli (also injured), Arsenal will be without two of their most explosive and direct strikers.
Saka's injury is a slap in the face that was always meant to be received. It's a question of when, not if. Arsenal's problem is that it has landed at this moment, with Martinelli also missing and Pep Guardiola's City looming on the horizon.
Saka's likely absence represents Arsenal's first big test of the campaign. and it happens just in time. just in time to face some of the league's toughest opponents.
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