Mikel Arteta has admitted Arsenal must reconsider how they manage Bukayo Saka after another injury setback left the forward facing a spell on the sidelines.
Saka is due to undergo an MRI scan after suffering a thigh injury in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The 25-year-old was forced off and Arteta said there was too much fluid around the affected area to assess the full extent of the damage.
He will miss Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Everton, with Arsenal understood to fear he could have suffered a grade-two tear that may keep him out for up to six weeks.
The injury adds to a growing list of fitness problems for Saka, who missed much of last season with hamstring, hip and Achilles tendon issues. He also suffered another hamstring injury in 2024-25 and has had 11 separate injuries since September 2023.
Arteta has tried to manage his minutes, but the Arsenal manager acknowledged that the demands of modern football have made it harder to keep players fit throughout the season.
“It’s certainly been different in the last year or so,” the Spaniard said when asked if Saka remains robust enough to start every match. “The demands that we are putting on every player are immense. The amount of games, the intensity of those matches, the international competitions, the times as well between games are getting narrower.
“Bukayo against Lille [in the Champions League last week] didn’t start the game because we knew what was happening. We have to play three times in less than six days. And especially when the games are so demanding, until the last minute you are there, you are chasing the game, you want to win.
“The necessity is to win every game, so we know that. So we are preparing the players for those scenarios and we do the best that we possibly can.”
Strength in numbers. https://t.co/crb7UHYEPm
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 23, 2026
Saka had been one of Arsenal’s most reliable players before his recent run of injuries. He missed only three Premier League matches across three seasons between 2021 and 2024 and set a club record with 83 consecutive appearances in the competition. Having joined Arsenal at the age of seven, he is now approaching 300 senior appearances for the club.
His importance was underlined in February when he signed a lucrative new contract that made him one of the highest-paid players in Arsenal’s history. Arteta, however, said the priority when Saka returns will be to establish how much work he can sustain without putting his fitness at risk.
The manager dismissed suggestions that Saka was suffering from burnout after making his first-team debut three months after turning 17, but said Arsenal needed to create the right conditions for him to perform over the long term.
“I don’t have that feeling at all but something we have to be very mindful of is to create the right ecosystem around the player to fulfil his qualities,” Arteta said. “We really need to understand, whenever he comes back, how we are going to manage his load, what he is capable of to sustain having an impact in the team.”
Dec’s finish, Mikel’s passion 🔥 https://t.co/wqfFH8LxJZ
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 23, 2026
Saka’s absence could give Max Dowman an opportunity against Everton. The 16-year-old has played only nine minutes in the Premier League this season, but Arteta expects him to feature after the teenager became the youngest goalscorer in the competition’s history against David Moyes’s Everton in March.
“There is something inevitable to go back to that memory and the feeling of the moment. That’s with us, that’s going to stay in that stadium for a long, long time,” Arteta said. “He’s training and every time he’s got a moment to play, he’s showing that he’s a player that is going to impact the game. For sure he’s going to have minutes.”
