London, Dec 23 (IANS) Former Premier League winner Arsenal have been handed a major blow in the title race as the North London club will be missing the services of their star player Bukayo Saka who has been ruled out for ‘many weeks. The Englishman was substituted off after suffering an injury during their 5-1 win against Crystal Palace, as confirmed by head coach Mikel Arteta.
“It’s not looking good. He’s going to be out for many weeks. It’s a huge blow, but it’s going to be a big exercise for us to overcome another challenge,” said Arteta in a press conference.
The 23-year-old was in top form in the ongoing season having scored nine goals and registered 13 assists in all competitions. The Gunners head coach also reassured the fan base claiming that the injury could have been ‘much worse.’
“[It’s] another part of the development of a player. At some stage at this level, you’re going to get injured. Unfortunately badly. It could have been much worse. It could have been something else that can take you out for a year.
“It’s how you react to that, how you overcome that situation and it’s a great learning process for him as well. It is what it is. He’s injured, we cannot change it. We’re going to use this time now to help him,” he added.
Injury issues have seen Arsenal fall down to third place in the Premier League points table after skipper Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Caliafiori, Zinchenko, Gabriel Magalhaes and Takehiro Tomiyasu have all suffered injuries at some point in the season.
The Gunners will be hoping to replace the big boots left by Saka’s absence but find themselves without a right-forward at the moment with Raheem Sterling also ruled out with a knee injury.
Arteta revealed he is still figuring out how to deal with Saka’s injury as he looks ahead to the highly congested fixtures that lay ahead.
“I’m putting some ideas together. I haven’t got there yet. But I have a few. Then I want to speak with them [the players] too, to understand how to generate that and use it in a positive way, because it means we’re going to be different. We went through the period with Martin [Odegaard] and the period with five, or six defenders missing. We’re taking it with positive energy,” said the Spaniard.
The Gunners will be playing three league games in the next ten days before the Carabao Cup semifinal against Newcastle United and the FA Cup clash against Manchester United.
–IANS
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