Arsenal have been handed another injury scare with Mikel Arteta revealing Bukayo Saka asked to be taken off during their north London derby win over Tottenham.
Gabriel Magalhaes’ towering header in the second-half sealed victory for the Gunners on a day where Arteta’s first-team options were seriously depleted.
With Declan Rice serving a suspension, Martin Odegaard suffering an ankle injury while on international duty and Mikel Merino injured in his first training session with the club, Arsenal showed their resolve to seal a huge win ahead of their trip to Manchester City next week.
Saka provided the assist for Gabriel’s header with a wicked cross but the 23-year-old went down in the 86th minute, unable to continue.
The England international received some treatment from the club’s medical staff but hobbled off the pitch shortly after, with 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri replacing him for the final minutes of the contest.
Speaking after the game, Arteta explained Saka felt he could not continue, prompting injury concerns ahead of that trip to City next week.
‘Suddenly he went down and said he couldn’t continue and we had to take him off,’ Arteta told Sky Sports.
He added in a post-match press conference: ‘I don’t know. I made two changes with the front players and suddenly he’s down. I don’t know exactly what it is but he could not continue.’
Arteta could not provide a further update on Odegaard with reports suggesting the club captain is facing up to three weeks on the sidelines.
Rice will be available again for Arsenal’s next game but Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko were two further absentees on Sunday, joining Merino, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney on the sidelines.
Arsenal’s win at Tottenham was their third win from four this season with their only blemish the 1-1 draw with Brighton before the international break.
City have a perfect record so far with two points separating last season’s top two ahead of next Sunday’s clash.
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