Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said that Bukayo Saka is unlikely to face Liverpool on Sunday.
The England winger suffered a hamstring injury earlier this month while on international duty. Saka has missed Arsenal's last two matches against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League and Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League.
"I don’t know [if Saka will be fit to face Liverpool]," Arteta told Amazon Prime Sport, after the 1-0 win over Shakhtar. "He hasn’t been able to train yet so that’s unlikely."
Arsenal's other outs and doubts
Arteta is set to have a number of players unavailable for their huge encounter against the league leaders.
In addition to Saka being a doubt, Martin Odegaard is recovering from an ankle injury, Jurrien Timber has a muscle strain and William Saliba is suspended after his red card against Bournemouth last weekend.
The Arsenal manager also said that Riccardo Calafiori could miss the contest against Liverpool.
"With Riccy it’s something different, he felt something," said Arteta in his post-match press conference.
"I don’t know the extent of it so in that sense it’s not great news."
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
11 | +15 | 28 |
| 2 |
Man City
MCI
|
11 | +9 | 23 |
| 3 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
11 | +8 | 19 |
| 4 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
11 | +6 | 19 |
| 5 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
11 | +5 | 19 |
'We will be flying'
Despite the potential absences and the difficulties his side had in overcoming Shakhtar last night, Arteta is in defiant mood as he seeks to claim a third consecutive league win at home to Liverpool.
"We played two and a half days ago, after internationals, after [players were] flying back from Brazil and many countries, so I was expecting that we could drop off a little bit," Arteta said.
"And the fact we put so much into the first half and didn’t convert [the chances] and get the distance in terms of the result and the scoreline, I think we paid for that and then we made life more difficult for us.
"We started to give the ball away and not regain it in the right areas and the game was more open so that didn’t help.
"But we have four days [to recover]. We’ll review what we have to do, we have a day off and then two days to prepare for the game.
"We are more than comfortable that we’ll be in a great place. Believe me, on Sunday we will be flying."