‘Full recovery’ – Arsenal fans handed huge injury boost ahead of Atalanta and Man City clashes
Arsenal are said to be ‘confident’ that their star man Bukayo Saka will be fit for both their trips to Atalanta and Manchester City this week. The England international hobbled off the pitch at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, shortly after producing a corner kick that would assist Gabriel’s goal.
It was a tense battle between the two north London sides but the Brazilian’s header ensured it would be Mikel Arteta’s side that came out on top.
Heading into the match, Arteta was already set to be without a number of first-team stars, including club captain Martin Odegaard, and with the club’s first Champions League match of this campaign coming up this week before then heading to the Etihad on Sunday, the Gooners would desperately have been hoping that no more casualties would take place this weekend.
Fear did rise however, with Saka requesting to come off and after the match, Arteta said of his player: “Saka went down. I don’t know exactly what it is, but he said he could not continue.”
However, all is not as disastrous as it first appeared and the latest reports indicate that the Emirates club fully expect the England winger to be fit in time to take on both Atalanta and Man City. According to the Evening Standard, the 23-year-old was understood to have been suffering with cramps and is therefore likely to make a full recovery in time for Thursday.
Gabriel Jesus also provided Gooners with some much needed positivity surrounding injuries news by recovering from his groin injury in time for a late substitute appearance on Sunday.
As Arsenal head into Thursday’s European clash, they will welcome back Declan Rice – who missed Sunday following his red card against Brighton – but will continue to miss Kieran Tierney (hamstring), Mikel Merino (shoulder), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Odegaard (ankle).
It also remains to be seen whether Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori (both calf) who missed the fiery derby can return in time for Thursday’s trip to Italy.
