On April 3, 2023, Arsenal fell to a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool. The Gunners endured another disappointing campaign as they finished behind rivals Tottenham and failed to secure a top-four finish.
That home defeat marked the last time Bukayo Saka has failed to make a matchday squad for the north London side.
Since then, Saka has been involved in an Arsenal side in one way or another, be it from the outset or the bench. That run could end this weekend.
Saka sustained a muscle tweak in Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to Lens in midweek to compound a miserable evening for Mikel Arteta’s side. The injury couldn’t come at a worse time as the Gunners gear up to take on Manchester City on Sunday.
Arsenal head into the final round of league games ahead of the international break one point behind league leaders City after they smashed Bournemouth 4-0 last time out.
City, meanwhile, saw their 100 per cent record abruptly stopped by Wolves. Arsenal will intend to head into the domestic hiatus above Pep Guardiola’s side in the table and with a minor psychological edge of the defending champions. That’ll prove far easier said than done without Saka.
The Gunners are already sweating on the fitness of left winger Gabriel Martinelli, so to lose both first choice widemen for a game of this magnitude would be ill-timed.
Saka has enjoyed yet another wonderful campaign to date. Only compatriot James Maddison (7.76) has a better WhoScored.com rating than the 22-year-old (7.74) in the Premier League this season, with the Arsenal star returning four goals and two assists across the opening seven games of the campaign.
When you consider that a bulk of Arsenal’s attacks come down the right flank (41 per cent), then to lose the star right winger ahead of a huge game could prove costly.
A key reason behind that figure being so high is the relationship with Ben White, who looks to provide the overlapping run to help drag markers away from Saka when he does have the ball. Remove a core player from that partnership, and Arsenal lose an important route to goal.
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For a City side that may well opt for a 3-2-4-1 setup on Sunday, there would be plenty of space for a winger of Saka’s calibre to get in behind the deeper-lying bank of midfield.
When you factor in Rodri’s suspension, Arsenal will never have a better chance to beat the defending champions, so to potentially lose Saka in the days prior to City’s visit to the Emirates would be a massive blow, and that cannot be underestimated.
While two assists does not make for great reading, it’s not for want of trying. Saka is Arsenal’s top creator in the Premier League this season with 19 key passes, that ranking fifth overall in England’s top tier.
Martin Odegaard ranks second for the Gunners, with 11, while three players behind the Norwegian have each made six key passes. In all, 24.1 per cent of the total goalscoring chances Arsenal have created this season have come through Saka.
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And it’s not just his chance creation that Arsenal will miss against City. He’s a direct runner that can get the better of any full-back on his day.
In the opening exchanges of the north London Derby last month for example, he ran Destiny Udogie ragged before the young Italian settled into a rhythm that allowed him to recover from his early booking to put in an assured performance. Yet there was a period where Saka wreaked havoc down that right flank and when he is on-song down that side of the pitch, there are few better.
It’s not a shock that Saka ranks top for successful dribbles (13) of all Arsenal players in England’s top tier this term, while he is also their most fouled player (14).
Opponents target Saka, but still struggle to limit his influence as noted by his impressive attacking numbers this season. Of course, another concern for Arsenal is that they don’t have a like-for-like replacement for the England international on that right flank.
The north London outfit were reportedly in the market for a player to provide cover for Saka over the summer, with Moussa Diaby and Mohammed Kudus both rumoured targets before they moved to Aston Villa and West Ham, respectively.
With Saka potentially ruled out of Sunday’s game and no like-for-like replacement on the right flank, Arsenal would be robbed of a key attacking outlet and without appropriate cover.
When Rodri was dismissed against Nottingham Forest last month, Arsenal must have been thrilled at the prospect of facing City with the Spaniard ruled out. However, the Gunners themselves may yet be unable to call upon the services of a game changing forward that surely minimises their chances of securing a massive result.
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