Bukayo Saka hobbled off injured late in the Spurs game, and was clearly struggling to walk before he was eventually substituted by Emile Smith Rowe in the late minutes of the 2-2 draw with the enemy. Arsenal fans spent all week sweating on whether he would be fit enough for the Bournemouth game, as Mikel Arteta’s presser didn’t help much.

When the news surfaced that Saka traveled with the squad to the south coast, a part of me knew that he was going to feature, and he had quite a eventful game, scoring the opening goal and passing on the ball twice to Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz, which would have meant that he had the potential to score a hattrick in the game. At 3-0 up, Arteta had the chance to rest Saka and summon Fabio Vieira to the proceedings as the game was already sorted, but Saka stayed on for some additional minutes and seemed to tweak something before he was eventually subbed for Vieira.

More drama regarding his fitness ahead of the Champions League clash with RC Lens, and as expected, Saka was on the plane to France and started against the French outfit, getting an early assist to Gabriel Jesus before hitting the turf for the third game in a row. Vieira came on and was rather ineffectual but this one seems to be really bad, as Arteta alluded to in his post-match presser.

News making the rounds last night and early this morning is that Saka has suffered a hamstring strain and is a huge doubt for the all-important clash against Manchester City this weekend. Hindsight is always 20/20 but it would have been a sensible option to rest Saka for the game against RC Lens with Manchester City in mind. It’s not as if Arteta doesn’t trust the other players in his disposal, but Saka is a talisman to Arsenal and I’m sure he must have been itching to play in a big Champions League game for his club, which prompted the gaffer to send him out there.

I know that a game of Manchester City’s magnitude may mean that the physio team are using all their powers, including a horse’s placenta and maybe some alchemy to ensure Saka’s hamstring is ready to go, but we need to think of the players long term health. I remember a few years ago when Lukas Podolski suffered a hamstring tear that kept him out for close to five months. He was not the same player on his return to full fitness and lost his way at the club before his eventual departure.

I love Saka and I know that he has had an amazing streak featuring in 87 consecutive Premier League games which is a testament of his elite fitness, but it’s time to apply the brakes and allow him recuperate from this injury because if there’s another that needs a breather, it’s Saka.

The key question would be – can Arsenal fill up its Saka-sized hole?

In terms of direct replacements, Arteta can deploy the technical passing wizard, Fabio Vieira. As a left footer, he’s a natural replacement for Saka, but his style of play isn’t outrightly similar to the Englishman, but I believe he can work well with Martin Odegaard and Ben White on the right hand side attack. Reiss Nelson is another player capable of playing on the right, but he hasn’t been convincing and I doubt his capability of doing it in a big game like Sunday. He’s more suited to being an impact sub.

Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard are capable of playing on the right, but with Gabriel Martinelli still out injured, I’d rather have Jesus play through the middle and Trossard on the left, to allow Vieira play through the right. In as much as I’m a fan of Eddie Nketiah and his high-octane style of play, he doesn’t have the technical prowess or football intelligence required to do the business and can be very frustrating to watch.

We will keep a keen eye on the Mikel Arteta press conference for the Manchester City game and hope to get more news on the Saka injury situation.

Sayonara

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