Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka could be fit for Arsenal’s Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old missed Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday with manager Mikel Arteta not wanting to take any risks with one of his key players.
Saka picked up a hamstring issue during England’s 2-1 defeat by Greece in the Nations League on September 10 and missed full team training on Monday.
Captain Martin Odegaard has missed eight games since picking up an ankle injury against Austria for Norway in the September international break. The Champions League game on Tuesday will come too early, but the 25-year-old is not far from a return.
Arteta said on the pair: “They are closer and both progressing really well. Martin is still not fit. With Bukayo, let’s see how he feels today and (after) the training session we have later on.”
Despite positive comments ahead of the Premier League game against Bournemouth from Arteta, Saka was left out for the 2-0 defeat on the south coast on Saturday evening.
Arteta explained that the winger “didn’t have the right feeling” and “there was no point pushing him” ahead of a run of seven games in three weeks, which includes the visit of Premier League leaders Liverpool, a trip to Inter Milan and an away fixture at Chelsea.
Saka has started 145 of Arsenal’s 160 Premier League matches over the last five seasons as well being a key player for his country over that period, too.
Players union FIFPro filed a complaint over the expanding football calendar last week with midfielder Mikel Merino admitting the workload is an ongoing concern for players.
“It’s a difficult one because we are players, I love to play football. I don’t even care how much I have to rest or not, if there’s a ball at my feet I’m happy,” he said. “But at the same time, we are reaching a level where players are getting injured and the level of the game is not at the highest point because of resting.
“I think it’s best for everyone to get to a point where we can keep playing and keep the spectacle because if players are not rested, there will be injuries. Everyone wants to see the big names perform and do these amazing tricks with high quality football, so hopefully we can reach an agreement and get to a point where everyone is happy and enjoying football.”
Arsenal have contended with a number of injury problems during the 2024-25 campaign. In addition to Saka and Odegaard, Ben White, Gabriel Martinelli, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jurrien Timber were all doubts ahead of the Bournemouth defeat.
Timber missed the trip to the Vitality Stadium with a muscular injury and also sat out team training on Monday. White and Martinelli did feature against Bournemouth while Zinchenko was an unused substitute.
When asked about the potential of Timber returning for the game on Tuesday, Arteta said: “It’s going to be close. We have to see how he deals with training with the whole group because he has not done that yet. But he will be pretty close hopefully.”
Arsenal have four points from their opening two games of their Champions League campaign following the draw away at Atalanta on September 19 with a home win over Paris Saint-Germain on October 1.
(Julian Finney/Getty Images)
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