{"id":2013,"date":"2026-04-11T23:41:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2013"},"modified":"2026-04-11T23:41:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:41:55","slug":"mikel-artetas-response-to-bukayo-saka-injury-question-will-worry-arsenal-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/?p=2013","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta&#8217;s response to Bukayo Saka injury question will worry Arsenal fans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Arsenal were without Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori for their Premier League defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Gunners were deservedly beaten at Emirates Stadium, with Andoni Iraola\u2019s side outplaying the North Londoners on what was a miserable day for Mikel Arteta\u2019s men. Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott scored either side of Viktor Gyokeres\u2019 penalty, condemning Arsenal to their third loss in their last four games across all competitions.<\/p>\n<p>Gyokeres believes the state of the Emirates pitch impacted the Gunners\u2019 performance, although it\u2019s likely that the absence of key players was a more significant contributing factor.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p>\n          <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gunners STUNNED at home in title race! | Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth | Premier League Highlights\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TkNwTF4roZo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mikel Arteta has been ruled out of the Champions League with a hamstring injury<\/h2>\n<p>Arsenal have had to deal with a number of injury issues throughout this season. Saka has been unavailable for large stretches, as have the likes of Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners were somewhat depleted when Bournemouth visited N5 on Saturday. Saka, Odegaard, Calafiori, Jurrien Timber and Mikel Merino were all unavailable, while Piero Hincapie and Eberechi Eze were only fit enough to make the bench.<\/p>\n<p>Saka hasn\u2019t featured for the Gunners since the Carabao Cup final in March, and there are concerns that the winger may not be able to make a significant impact when he does finally return. Odegaard made a brief return last week, but appears to have succumb to injury once again.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p>\n          <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BIG PUNCH in the FACE! | Mikel Arteta | Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WRdgeRSzoac?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n        <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, Calafiori\u2019s persistent niggles continue. Speaking to the media after the Bournemouth game, Arteta was asked about the trio\u2019s fitness status\u2019, and his answer won\u2019t fill supporters with confidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo (on Calafiori), and on Martin (Odegaard) as well, no. Bukayo Saka, too,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have an update yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While this response doesn\u2019t confirm anything, the fact that there is no concrete update on any of the three players doesn\u2019t suggest that they are close to a return.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Mikel Arteta said about Arsenal being tired vs Bournemouth<\/h2>\n<p>Arsenal\u2019s injury issues have no doubt stemmed from the congested fixture schedule and the resulting fatigue. Until they were beaten by City in the Carabao Cup final last month, Arteta\u2019s side were competing on four fronts.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether he believes tiredness is affecting the team, Arteta refused to use this as an excuse.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\n<table class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Arsenal<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Statistic<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Bournemouth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">53%<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Possession<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">47%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">15<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Total shots<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">3<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Shots on target<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">10<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Corners<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">1<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Saves<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">1<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Yellow cards<\/td>\n<td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><strong>All statistics per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fotmob.com\/en-GB\/matches\/afc-bournemouth-vs-arsenal\/2txefx#4813685:tab=stats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FotMob<\/a> \u2013 correct as of 11\/04\/2026<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to pull those excuses because we\u2019ve been playing so many games every three days, we\u2019re going to have to continue to do that, so that\u2019s the context, that\u2019s the scenario,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to embrace it and especially enjoy the opportunity. That\u2019s one of the things that I haven\u2019t seen from the team today, that level of enjoyment in certain moments and the fight that we have to really change the course of the game when it gets difficult. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to have different contexts from here to June, and we need to be able to adapt and resolve all of them, if we want to achieve what we want to achieve, that\u2019s clear.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal were without Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori for their Premier League defeat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}