“What I heard about Bukayo’s injury has really affected me so badly”: Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has revealed what he heard from the doctor concerning Bukayo Saka’s injury which has affected his form
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are set to miss Arsenal’s Champions League last-16 tie with PSV Eindhoven.
Mikel Arteta confirmed after Arsenal’s goalless draw with Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night that the pair will not be back before next month’s international break.
Martinelli and Saka – who are both out with hamstring injuries – are therefore set to miss both legs of Arsenal’s Champions League last-16 tie with PSV Eindhoven and Premier League clashes against Manchester United and Chelsea.
Asked if they could be back for the March international break, Arteta said: “I don’t think so, no.”
Pressed then, if the pair could make Arsenal’s game with Fulham on April 1 after the break, the Arsenal manager said: “I think so, but again, let’s see how they evolve in the next few weeks to make the right steps as well.
“And then after that, they’ve been out for a long, long time, so we’re going to have to integrate them as well, probably gradually. So they’re evolving well, but they’re still a bit far.
“We have a meeting tomorrow to discuss where they are, especially Gabi. He has probably a chance before Bukayo to come in, but how soon that is, we’ll have to see how it goes in the next week or ten days.”
With Martinelli and Saka, plus fellow forwards Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, the Gunners struggled to break down Nottingham Forest.
The 0-0 draw – and Liverpool beating Newcastle – means Arsenal are now 13 points off the Premier League leaders, albeit with a game in hand.
“Very disappointed not to win it,” said Arteta. “Today the standards were very different to the previous game. The energy, the willingness to make things happen.
“We certainly tried many different ways. We dominated the game, apart from one in the second half after one or two direct free-kicks where they had something in the box and one or two giveaways that allowed them to run.
“Apart from that, nothing. With the amount of situations we generated, the moment we opened them up, we lacked certainly that final pass, the quality on that delivery and certainly more shots on target to actually win it and be more efficient.
“It’s about what we can do. It was like this a week before, two weeks before, three months ago. It’s the same. That’s the only thing we can control.
“We’re going to have a real chance to do anything. Today we dropped two points which is very painful again and we have to step up. We have the Champions League, we have a beautiful competition in front of us and we need to be ready for Tuesday.”
