Arsenal drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace on Monday evening after escaping with a late equaliser from Alexandre Lacazette.
Whereas Arsenal followers can take pleasure realizing they snatched some extent from the jaws of defeat, it could be short-lived because of the fast turnaround resulting in their subsequent fixture towards Aston Villa.
The health of considered one of Arsenal’s most artistic gamers in Bukayo Saka is unclear forward of the conflict with Dean Smith’s facet on Friday, after the England worldwide was fouled by James McArthur.
Saka was substituted shortly after the second half started and Arsenal followers in addition to Mikel Arteta now face a nervous wait as they uncover the severity of the damage earlier than Friday.
READ MORE: WHY VILLA ARE STILL ON COURSE TO FULFIL NSWE DREAM
READ MORE: THE EUROPEAN WONDERKID THAT VILLA COULD SIGN FOR FREE
If he’s injured, will probably be a giant miss for Arteta.
As beforehand talked about, Saka is the group’s most artistic participant with a complete of 27 shot creating actions (SCA) for the season up to now. He averages a complete of 4.53 SCA per recreation which is greater than Paul Pogba (4.38 SCA) and simply behind Kevin De Bruyne (4.64).
Saka would pose a extreme risk to the Villa defence if he was to play and the match up towards Matty Money would seemingly be key on this fixture.
Arteta had this to say relating to the state of affairs surrounding the damage: “See the way it evolves. He couldn’t proceed and he’s a boy who’s fairly robust and he desires to maintain enjoying and he couldn’t keep it up.
“Now we have a fast turnaround for the subsequent recreation so we’ll see how he evolves.”
Arsenal would seemingly need to depend on the likes of Nicolas Pepe on this fixture if Saka did miss out by way of damage. Pepe at present ranks as Arsenal’s second most artistic participant having recorded 24 SCA for the season and performed a key function in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s opener towards Palace on Monday.
Arteta’s press convention can be on Thursday, with each units of followers prone to be listening keenly to find the damage state of affairs of Arsenal’s star participant.
Within the occasion of his absence, gamers resembling Gabriel Martinelli or Lacazette will probably be included within the beginning line-up and it could lead to a transfer away from their typical 4-2-3-1 formation.
The damage to Saka might ship a ripple impact all through the group and will severely affect how the sport unfolds on Friday. Smith and his team have to be ready for each state of affairs which will unfold, whether or not that features Saka or not.
READ MORE: THE UNAVOIDABLE INGS DECISION DEAN SMITH MUST MAKE VS ARSENAL
READ MORE: VILLA CAN MAKE ARSENAL REGRET ANOTHER BIG TRANSFER MISTAKE
