After England winger Bukayo Saka was substituted during Monday night’s 3-0 FA Cup third-round victory against Oxford, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has allayed concerns regarding the player.
The 21-year-old was treated for what seemed to be pain in his right knee when the Gunners were already up 2-0, and he was taken off before the decisive third goal was scored.
Saka has played in 24 of Arsenal’s 25 games so far this season, missing only the Carabao Cup loss to Brighton in November. He has started 20 of those games. Saka has also directly helped score 13 goals (seven scored, six assists).
But after the game was over, Arteta was able to give a good report, telling ITV, “He is fine, he was fine.”
So, it looks good for Saka to be healthy when the Gunners go to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday for the north London derby.
Now, Arsenal is in a tough spot. In the Premier League, a resurgent Manchester United is coming to the Emirates Stadium, and in the FA Cup, they will play Manchester City before the end of January. The Gunners are still five points ahead of City in the Premier League.
In the latest episode of Talking Transfers, Scott Saunders talks with Graeme Bailey and Toby Cudworth. This week, they talk about Man Utd’s interest in Mohammed Kudus, Enzo Fernandez and Chelsea, Jude Bellingham’s decision, and Mykhaylo Mudryk’s preferred move. It can be heard on all audio formats.
If you can’t see this embed, you can listen to the podcast by clicking here.
But fans want the team to get better during the January transfer window so that they can keep their lead until the end of the season. This is especially true after Chelsea showed interest in Joao Felix.
Arsenal is still trying to make a deal for Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk, even though offers of €60m and €70m have been turned down so far. Shakhtar thinks the player is worth €90 million because Antony went to Manchester United for the same amount in the summer.
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Arteta admits that Arsenal is in talks with Mykhaylo Mudryk
When the subject of recruiting came up on Monday, Arteta didn’t say much.
The boss said, “It’s my job to make the players we already have as good as I can. We try to do that, and if we get more players, that’s great.”
