{"id":370077,"date":"2025-08-24T15:52:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T15:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370077\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T15:52:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T15:52:18","slug":"bukayo-saka-injury-not-as-bad-as-first-feared-in-boost-for-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370077\/","title":{"rendered":"Bukayo Saka injury not as bad as first feared in boost for Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal have received a boost after early indications showed that the injuries suffered by Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard are not as bad as first feared.<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta was worried that Saka had suffered a \u201csignificant\u201d hamstring problem during their 5-0 victory over Leeds United<\/a> on Saturday evening, which could have ruled him out of Arsenal\u2019s crunch clash with Liverpool next weekend and beyond.<\/p>\n

He missed nearly four months last season after hamstring surgery on his right leg. The Arsenal captain, Odegaard, was also injured against Leeds and left the pitch holding his right shoulder. Arteta said the pair would have scans on Sunday, though it is unclear whether they will miss the Liverpool fixture.<\/p>\n

\"Bukayo<\/p>\n

The England star, who missed several months of last season after surgery on his hamstring, opened his account for the new campaign with Arsenal\u2019s second goal in first-half stoppage time<\/p>\n

JOHN WALTON\/PA<\/p>\n

Arteta, the Arsenal manager, said on Saturday he was concerned that Saka had suffered the issue running clear during a breakaway. \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to the doctor yet but for Bukayo to come off, it\u2019s significant,\u201d Arteta said at the time. \u201cHe felt something while he was sprinting. That\u2019s never a good sign. We\u2019ll have to wait tomorrow. But he\u2019s had these injuries before. He knows exactly the feeling of that. So let\u2019s wait. [For] Martin [it is] something in his shoulder. Two negatives of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their potential absence at Anfield next Sunday would be a significant blow, in addition to Arsenal missing Kai Havertz, Ben White, Christian Norgaard and Gabriel Jesus from the home win over Leeds. Viktor Gyokeres, Arsenal\u2019s new \u00a364million striker, struck twice and Max Dowman made his top-flight debut aged only 15 years and 235 days old.<\/p>\n

Dowman is the second-youngest player in Premier League history, behind only his Arsenal team-mate Ethan Nwaneri, who was 15 years and 181 days old when he faced Brentford in September 2022. Nwaneri came on as a replacement for Odegaard on Sunday and the two youngsters combined for Dowman to win a late penalty, which Gyokeres converted.<\/p>\n

\u201cCredit to all the coaches involved in Max\u2019s journey because there is a kid here that has zero hesitation,\u201d Arteta said. \u201cHe\u2019s so convinced that he can go at 15 and deliver that, which I\u2019ve never witnessed in my life. And for us, it brings joy, it brings emotion and something else that makes our jobs so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

The afternoon began with Eberechi Eze being paraded on the pitch before kick-off as his signing from Crystal Palace was confirmed. Eze, 27, cost the club up to \u00a367.5million and will wear the No10 shirt once worn by Dennis Bergkamp. A boyhood Arsenal fan, he appeared on the brink of joining their north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur until this week, when the injury to Havertz prompted last season\u2019s Premier League runners-up to hijack the deal.<\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/p>\n

Odegaard attempted to play on after taking a blow to his shoulder but was eventually replaced by Ethan Nwaneri before half-time<\/p>\n

CATHERINE IVILL\/GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has the capacity to create these magic moments,\u201d Arteta said of Eze. \u201cHe can do it from different positions, different situations. He\u2019s got that flair, he\u2019s got that charisma as well about him that is very contagious.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can play different positions. We know he can play as an attacking midfielder, right or left. He doesn\u2019t care. He plays shifted off the left as well. He\u2019s very comfortable there. We\u2019ll gather information again the moment he\u2019s on that pitch and starts to link and feel connection with people. I\u2019m sure we will find the right place for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a powerful and exciting player who will give us a new dimension in our attacking game. What stands out just as much as his talent and intelligence as a player is the way he has worked hard throughout his career to get where he is today. His journey, his mentality and his ambition are exactly what we want in our team, and we love how much it means to him and his family to be joining our club.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal have received a boost after early indications showed that the injuries suffered by Bukayo Saka and Martin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-370077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115084548244380733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}