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Arteta provides update after Arsenal suffer fresh double injury blow

By on November 23, 2020

bukayo saka arsenal

Arsenal suffered a fresh double injury concern after Bukayo Saka and Willian both picked up knocks during the 0-0 draw with Leeds United on Sunday afternoon.

Saka was named on the bench against Leeds but came on in the 57th minute after replacing Joe Willock and he made an excellent impact as 10-man Arsenal battled to try and snatch an unlikely win at Elland Road.

The 19-year-old was one of Arsenal’s better players during the second half and should have won it late on when he was sent clear by Hector Bellerin before seeing his shot saved by the Leeds goalkeeper, Illan Meslier.

However, Saka failed to see-out the game as he limped off in stoppage time after being caught by the studs of a Leeds player following a clash in the Arsenal penalty box.

Speaking at his post match press conference last night, Arteta confirmed Saka was in pain so they decided to take him off and the attacker will now be assessed to see how bad the injury is.

Willian was selected to start alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe in attack at Elland Road but the Brazilian’s poor form continued as he failed to make any real impression during the opening 45 minutes.

The former Chelsea star was replaced by Reiss Nelson at half-time and many fans thought it was a tactical decision by Arteta. Given how poor Willian had been, it was a fair assumption to make.

However, Arteta revealed after the game that it wasn’t a tactical decision as he was forced to withdraw Willian after the South American picked up a muscle issue in the first half.

Arteta told Arsenal.com:

“He [Saka] was in pain. We’re going to have to assess with the medical staff how bad it is, but it looked like a pretty bad challenge and he was in pain so we decided to take him out straight away.”

“He [Willian] was feeling something muscular and we had to take him off,”

Let’s hope the injuries aren’t serious as Arsenal have two huge Premier League games against Wolves and Tottenham coming up over the next couple of weeks and we desperately need to get back on track.

Saka in particular would be a big miss as he showed on Sunday how important he’s become to the Arsenal team so let’s pray it was just a bang to the knee and he hasn’t suffered any lasting damage.