Mikel Arteta is confident Bukayo Saka will make a successful recovery from his quad injury, with the Arsenal winger showing “some very good symptoms”.
Saka has missed the four matches the Gunners have played since he limped off in the opening ten minutes against Bayern Munich last month. The initial expectation at the club was that the winger would be out for up to eight weeks, though scans were difficult due to the amount of fluid that had built up around the affected muscle.
Heavy fixture run ahead
The champions face Hull on Saturday in their final match before the international break and will then return in a fortnight to start a heavyweight set of fixtures. Between the end of November and Christmas, Arsenal face Borussia Dortmund, both Manchester clubs, Real Madrid, testing trips to Newcastle and Brentford, and a north London derby away from home.
Saka appears likely to miss many of those. A clearer timeline for his return will emerge after the international break, when Saka is expected to return to individual training on the grass.
Arteta remains hopeful
When it was put to him that Saka could be out for at least another month, Arteta agreed but offered a positive update on how the early stages of the recovery have gone.
“I think so but I don't know,” Arteta said. “The way it happened, it wasn't a really aggressive action. So that gives you some hope as well that the tissue will repair in a more efficient and faster way as well and he has some very good symptoms right now. So we have to wait and see.”
Saka had made a bright start in that match against Bayern before picking up the injury in fairly innocuous fashion. He burst away from Alphonso Davies but then collapsed to the ground as he played a pass out wide under no pressure.
Cause remains unclear
Asked if Arsenal had got to the bottom of how and why Saka suffered the injury, Arteta replied: “Yeah, there are a few things that we believe can contribute. I prefer not to mention that here. But in reality as well to put a finger on something, maybe after you are totally wrong because there was something else. So it's very difficult.
“We have obviously thought and think and openly discussed a lot of things even with him to understand what could possibly have gone wrong. But the reality probably is that unfortunately we don't know. We can think that it is that but nobody has a certainty that it was just that.”
