{"id":649947,"date":"2024-12-28T08:32:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T13:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=649947"},"modified":"2024-12-28T08:32:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T13:32:31","slug":"arsenal-bukayo-saka-hamstring-injury-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/12\/28\/arsenal-bukayo-saka-hamstring-injury-blow\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta Provides Injury Update on &#8216;Exceptional&#8217; Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Arsenal ended 2024 <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">on a positive note<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, with a gritty 1-0 win over Ipswich Town in the Premier League. Key winger Bukayo Saka missed the game and there has now been an update on exactly how much longer he&#8217;ll be out of action.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Arsenal Deliver Bukayo Saka Injury Timeframe Update<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What Did Mikel Arteta Say About Saka?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The English winger picked up a hamstring injury in the Gunners&#8217; 5-1 win over Crystal Palace in their pre-Christmas fixture. The Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has now provided a timeline of how long the England international will be missing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Read More<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">:\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/11\/27\/arsenal-ethan-nwaneri-contract-extension-priority\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Arsenal \u2018Optimistic\u2019 in Priority Talks Over New Long-Term Contract For \u2018Extra Special\u2019 Midfielder<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Following his side&#8217;s win over Ipswich Town, Arteta\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/clyv71lez1no\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">stated<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">: &#8220;He had a procedure. Everything went well, but <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">unfortunately<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">he will be out for many, many weeks.\u00a0 I said many weeks, so I think it will <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">be more than<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> two months. I don&#8217;t know exactly how much longer.\u00a0 It will depend on how the scar tissue starts to heal, the first week or so, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">the<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> mobility of that. Let&#8217;s see, it&#8217;s <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">very difficult<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to say.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With Saka now unavailable until February or March, the Spanish coach remained cagey about dipping into the January transfer window to sign a new winger as Saka&#8217;s short-term replacement, as\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1872780891749269612\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">he claimed<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">: &#8220;We will see. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Hopefully<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> we won\u2019t have <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">anymore<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> injuries. We\u2019ll have Raheem Sterling probably less time than we expected so that\u2019s good news.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Who Will Replace Saka In The Arsenal Lineup?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Gunners opted to play Gabriel Martinelli in that right-wing position in the win over Ipswich Town, but the Brazilian winger failed to create anything noteworthy. Arteta <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">has the option to<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> play Gabriel Jesus in that position as the versatile forward can play there, while Raheem Sterling is another option when he gets back to full fitness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Read More:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/08\/29\/arsenal-kingsley-coman-bayern-munich\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Arsenal Plan Swoop for \u2018Exceptional\u2019 Serial Winner<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Saka will undoubtedly be a big miss in a position he has made his own. The 23-year-old had arguably been Arsenal&#8217;s best player this season before his injury, scoring nine goals and providing 13 assists in 24 matches. Saka, who was\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/videos\/cvgxp7ne2k3o\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">hailed as &#8220;exceptional&#8221;<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0by Arteta earlier this season could miss as many as eight league matches, including key ones against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, if he&#8217;s out for two months.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal ended 2024 on a positive note, with a gritty 1-0 win over Ipswich Town in the Premier League. Key winger Bukayo Saka missed the game and there has now been an update on exactly how much longer he&#8217;ll be out of action. Arsenal Deliver Bukayo Saka Injury Timeframe Update What Did Mikel Arteta Say [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4218,"featured_media":631994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,30],"tags":[4211,4372],"class_list":["post-649947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-premier-league","category-arsenal","category-news","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-mikel-arteta"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649947"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649963,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649947\/revisions\/649963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}