David Seaman believes Arsenal have a ready-made replacement for Bukayo Saka in Raheem Sterling if the forward is ruled out of the side’s trip to Bournemouth this weekend.
Saka has enjoyed an exceptional start to the 2024/25 campaign, racking up two goals and seven assists in his opening seven appearances of the Premier League season.
However, the 23-year-old hobbled off the Wembley turf with a hamstring injury in England’s Nations League defeat to Greece and there are doubts surrounding his involvement at the Vitality Stadium.
Saka is said to be ‘hopeful’ of returning to full fitness in time for Saturday’s top-flight contest, where the Gunners will look to make it five wins on the spin in all competitions.
But Mikel Arteta will no doubt have contingency plans in place should the winger be sidelined for the clash and there are plenty of options available to the Arsenal boss, with the likes of Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Sterling all battling it out for minutes.
‘Bukayo Saka looks like he’s not going to be involved which is a blow,’ ex-Arsenal England goalkeeper Seaman said on the Seaman Says podcast.
‘But we’ve got players on the bench.
‘Even though Bukayo could be out, it will probably give a chance to Raheem so that’s a really good replacement.
‘Speed worries defenders, doesn’t it? It’s the worst thing ever.
‘You don’t have to be that brainy to get on the end of some of the passes that get put through but speed embarrasses people.’
Seaman is confident third-placed Arsenal will push Manchester City all the way again this season, with Pep Guardiola forced to cope with the ‘massive loss’ of midfield enforcer Rodri.
‘We’re now genuine contenders. It’s taken us a while to get back to that but that’s what we are now,’ he added.
‘Obviously, they [Manchester City] have got Rodri out, he’s going to be out for the rest of the season it looks like, and that’s a massive loss.’
On Arsenal’s trip to Bournemouth, Seaman continued: ‘It’s going to be tough. These are the games that tripped us up last season.
‘These are the ones you expect to win and then all of a sudden you’re coming off the back of it with nothing, no points.
‘That’s where we need to improve. Our problem wasn’t actually playing against Manchester City last season because we took four points off them… it was the other games that we certainly need to be better at.’
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