Mikel Arteta drops biggest hint yet that Bukayo Saka will miss Arsenal vs Liverpool
Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has missed Arsenal's last two matches in the Premier League and Champions League through injury and faces a race against time to be fit for Sunday
by Tom Victor · The MirrorMikel Arteta has given his strongest indication to date that Arsenal will be without Bukayo Saka for Sunday's Premier League match against Liverpool.
Saka has sat out Arsenal's last two outings, a defeat at Bournemouth in the league and a narrow victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in Europe. The Gunners were without a number of other first-teamers for the pair of games, including captain Martin Odegaard and defender Jurrien Timber.
William Saliba will miss out through suspension against Liverpool after his red card at the Vitality Stadium, and manager Arteta will hope to be able to welcome at least one player back. Based on his comments after the Shakhtar win, though, Saka's chances appear slim after he was injured on international duty.
"Saka not training yet so he won't be available and Ricci [Calafiori] felt something and could not stay on," Arteta told Amazon after the 1-0 victory. "Bit of a worry."
Arteta had been a bit cagier before the match, pointing out that the Gunners still have a few days before Liverpool's visit. However, the Calafiori situation provides a fresh concern.
The Italian defender attempted to play on after going down injured, but was ultimately forced to make way for youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly more than 15 minutes before the end. Lewis-Skelly was called into action due to the injury-enforced absence of Timber, Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Arsenal were still able to grind out a victory, with the winner coming via an unfortunate own goal from Shakhtar keeper Dmytro Riznyk, though Riznyk later saved a penalty from Leandro Trossard. The Gunners have seven points from a possible nine in Europe, and are one of two clubs - along with Aston Villa - who have played three times without conceding.
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"Very pleased with the result," Arteta said. "Always difficult in Champions League. We should've scored more in first half and the second half I felt a bit of fatigue. Playing 60 minutes with 10 men a few days ago is difficult. We left the game a bit open but we dug in for three points."
"I don't know if [the penalty miss] was related to fatigue. Credit to Shakhtar, they are brave. When you give them time on the ball and you lose the ball you will suffer. I don't know [why Kai Havertz didn't take the penalty]. He is one of the takers but Leo took it."
Gabriel Martinelli impressed Arteta, and it was the Brazilian's shot which hit the post and cannoned in off the back of Riznyk. "He was really good. Looked really sharp tonight. You could see he was fresh after not starting at the weekend," the manager added.
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