Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta acknowledged Bukayo Saka’s latest knee setback was a “worry,” but said he had no remorse deploying the winger in Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League loss at Lens.
The 22-year-old had hobbled out of the Gunners’ last two Premier League games due to injuries, but was chosen to the starting lineup at Stade Bollaert-Delelis, lasting just 34 minutes before being forced off with a muscle injury.
Saka set up Gabriel Jesus’ initial goal before Adrien Thomasson levelled and Elye Wahi scored in the 69th minute to hand Arsenal their first loss of the season.
“He tried to backheel a ball in the first half and he felt something,” Arteta added. “It was a muscular thing.” We had to remove him since he was uncomfortable.
“We don’t know much more than that.” Obviously, it was significant enough to prevent him from continuing to play the game, which is a source of concern for us.
“I have no clue, [about the weekend], I don’t know.”
When asked whether he regretted starting Saka considering his recent fitness issues, Arteta said, “No, it was a knock that he had the other day.” He was completely fine. That sort of damage may be caused by an action, such as a backheel. Let’s find out how bad it is.
“The last few have been more like knocks than anything else.” He hasn’t missed many games. We just gave him a rest against Brentford last week.”
Arsenal is still in third place in Group B, and Arteta said, “I painted a picture and the type of scenario we were going to face today, and they were all aware of it.” But winning the Champions League away from home is really tough. Today is a significant lesson.”
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