Arsenal go into the weekend second in the Premier League, three points behind leaders Manchester City, and in good health in almost every sense except the one that matters most right now. Mikel Arteta’s pre-match press conference this week did not bring the reassurance his club might have hoped for. Instead, it confirmed that Bukayo Saka’s quad injury is a genuine concern, added William Saliba to the list of absentees for Saturday’s visit of Everton to the Emirates, and left the manager fielding questions about an attacking line up that is suddenly a good deal thinner than it looked a fortnight ago.
Saka went down clutching his leg within the opening ten minutes of Wednesday’s 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich, immediately signalling to the bench. Eberechi Eze came on in his place and put Arsenal ahead, only for Bayern to turn the game around, before Declan Rice forced a 2-2 draw with a leveller of his own late on. It was after the match that Arteta delivered his first, blunt assessment. “It’s his quad,” he said. “They are a bit concerned. A player who has to come off with a really sharp pain is never good news, but we have to wait and see.”
That wait is still ongoing. Arsenal have not put an official timeframe on Saka’s return, and Arteta has offered no specific date publicly, only repeating that the club will not rush an assessment. Some reports in England have suggested the layoff could stretch to around a month, potentially keeping him out through the November international break, but that figure has not been confirmed by the club and should be treated as an estimate rather than fact. What is certain is that Saka will have no part in Saturday’s game, and that his absence alone would have been a significant blow even without everything else that has followed it this week.
A Longer Road Back for Saliba
The bigger surprise in Arteta’s briefing was the update on William Saliba, who has not played a single minute this season because of a back problem first picked up at the World Cup. Arsenal opted against surgery over the summer, choosing a managed rehabilitation programme instead, and the defender has progressed to individual work on the grass at the training ground. Arteta sounded genuinely encouraged by how that has gone. “Every sign so far has been very, very positive,” he said, before adding that another scan is planned this week to check on his healing. “It will be great to have him,” he said, though he stopped short of naming a return date.
That caution matters. Different outlets have floated return windows anywhere between the end of November and December, and until that next scan comes back, nobody at the club appears willing to commit to either. For a defence that has otherwise looked settled, losing a player of Saliba’s quality for this long is a significant subplot running alongside the more visible drama around Saka, even if it has drawn less attention outside north London.
A Little Relief Further Forward
It is not entirely bleak reading for Arteta. Christos Tzolis, who picked up a hamstring injury on international duty with Greece, is said to be responding well to his own rehabilitation. “Another one that, hopefully, we can have back in a few weeks,” Arteta said, which at least offers a firmer sense of when his only out and out attacking addition from the summer might be able to contribute again.
There was better news still on Piero Hincapie, who has missed Arsenal’s last three matches with an ankle problem. Arteta indicated the Ecuadorian would train over the coming days and could be available for selection against Everton, even if starting him from the off feels unlikely given how little football he will have had. For a manager short of attacking options, a fit option anywhere on the pitch is worth having.
What It Means for Saturday
In practical terms, Arteta’s selection headache is now considerable. Noni Madueke is the likeliest replacement on the right where Saka would normally operate, with Eze continuing further forward or on the opposite flank after his impact in Munich. 16 year old Max Dowman, who has already shown flashes of what he can do in the Carabao Cup, offers another option if Arteta wants to throw caution to the wind, though careful handling of a player that young will remain a priority regardless of how threadbare things look elsewhere.
None of this changes the stakes of the weekend itself. Everton arrive on the back of a seven match unbeaten run that only ended with a home defeat to Chelsea last weekend, so this is not a side to be taken lightly, and Arsenal cannot afford to let a title race that already has Manchester City setting the pace slip further away through self inflicted wobbles at home. Arteta has built a squad with genuine depth over the past two years, and this is precisely the kind of week that depth is supposed to be for. Whether it proves to be enough, with the club’s two most important players both watching from the sidelines, will say a great deal about how serious Arsenal’s challenge really is this season.
What is clear is that this will not be resolved by Saturday evening. Saliba’s situation will not be settled until his scan results are in, and Saka’s timeline is still, by Arteta’s own admission, a case of waiting and seeing. Arsenal fans have been here before with both players, and they know from recent history that patience rather than optimism is usually the wiser response to an Arteta team talk like this one.
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