Arteta sweating on Saka, Ødegaard injuries for Burnley game،
Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka is injury doubtful for the Premier League match against Burnley, manager Mikel Arteta told a press conference on Friday.
Saka limped off late in the 2-0 Champions League win over Sevilla and was named in the England squad on Thursday.
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Arteta said he did not want to repeat his last call-up when he left the England camp after missing the Arsenal game before this international break.
“I hope not. We want our players to play for their club and for their national teams,” Arteta told reporters.
“B [Saka] had to leave the field because he was in a lot of pain. He didn’t practice yesterday and let’s see if he can do it tomorrow.”
Arsenal have been hit by several injuries, with defender Takehiro Tomiyasu being substituted in the match against Sevilla and club captain Martin Ødegaard missing the last two matches.
“A few are still in the running,” Arteta said. “We have to give them another 24 hours to give them a chance to play in the game, but we won’t know until tomorrow.
“He is [Ødegaard] still racing [against the clock]. He’s trying everything he can, so let’s see. It’s a possibility.”
Arsenal suffered their first league defeat of the season at Newcastle United last weekend, and Arteta criticized the winning goal which was awarded after a triple VAR assessment.
Arteta did not want to revisit the controversy, but was asked about reports it would take 10 years to correct VAR’s imperfections.
I will probably be bald in 10 years, life will be very different, maybe we will have other new rules in football, so I don’t know,” he said.
“Let’s try to do everything we can, individually and collectively, to improve the game in all aspects and that’s it.”
Arsenal have the perfect opportunity to get back on track when they host Burnley on Saturday, a team with just one league win this season.
“Looking at the games they played and the results they got, in some of them they deserved way more than what they got,” Arteta said.
“But that’s the difficulty of this league. Sometimes, when you deserve more, you don’t get it because the quality of the opposition is too high.”
Arsenal are fourth in the table, three points behind leader Manchester City. Burnley are second with four points from 11 games.
