Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is “hopeful” that Bukayo Saka will be fit to play against Bournemouth after an suffering injury scare on international duty.
Saka limped off in England’s defeat to Greece and missed the following match against Finland, though interim boss Lee Carsley was optimistic that the winger had not picked up a long-term problem.
Alarm bells were raised when Saka was not pictured in any of the training photos released by the team on Thursday, amid a flurry of injury concerns for the Gunners.
Kai Havertz was also forced to pull out of Germany’s squad with a knee injury, while Gabriel Martinelli was sent for an MRI on his right calf after picking up a knock while away with Brazil.
Captain Martin Odegaard remains a long-term absentee while Ben White, Jurrien Timber and Oleksandr Zinchenko all missed Arsenal’s last match against Southampton with injuries.
Regarding Saka, Arteta said: “It is not a serious injury. He is evolving really well. He has done a few things in the last two days. We are hopeful. Let’s see if he can make it on time.”
The Spanish boss explained that should Havertz come through team training on Friday unscathed, he will feature against Andoni Iraola’s outfit on the south coast, but Arteta remains in the dark over Martinelli.
“He (Havertz) had a few issues but we’ve been dealing with that,” Arteta added. “We have great communication with Germany. If he trains well today he has a good chance to be fit and available.
“Gabi landed yesterday afternoon. Yesterday he went outside to a bit to see how he’s feeling. We have to decide if we want to take a risk because I know he’ll say he is.”
Arteta confirmed that while he is not expecting his skipper available in the short-term, Odegaard is facing an important week in his recovery. “He’s not gonna be fit for this game,” the head coach said.
“Next week will be a different story. He needs to clear some markers doing things with the ball in that latter stage of rehab. Next week will be crucial.
“They (White, Timber, Zinchenko) are quite close the three of them. Today we’ll have to push. We are struggling a bit with the numbers, especially in our right side.”
He did note that Thomas Partey was available, however, in a boost after the midfielder was forced to pull out of Ghana’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches this month.
