Bukayo Saka will be unavailable for many weeks, according to Mikel Arteta in his pre-Ipswich Town press conference on Monday.
Our number seven went down in the 24th minute of Saturday’s 5-1 win away to Crystal Palace and had to be replaced by Leandro Trossard.
“It’s not looking good,” Mikel 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.”
Unfortunately Raheem Sterling won’t be one of the way we can overcome the challenge, as he is also expected to be out for a number of weeks.
“He needs some further testing tomorrow to understand the extent of the injury,” Mikel added. “It’s his knee and we have to wait another 24 hours, but unfortunately he’s going to be out for a while.”
With two right wingers set to be sidelined, Mikel was asked which other players could step into that role.
“[Gabriel Martinelli] did really well again the other day,” he said. “He scored a goal, he created an assist. And it's a good option to have. We're going to have the options to play both footed as well. If we need to, another kind of profile in relation to the opposition. So, we are on it.
“Gabby [Jesus] has played there, Ethan [Nwaneri] has played there, Leo [Trossard] can play there in relation to how that unit moves. Kai [Havertz] can play there, asking him different things. So, we'll see, try to speak to them as well and understand how they feel about it.”
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
