Saka was forced off early on Tuesday night as the Gunners lost to Lens in the Champions League. The England international was still included in his country's squad for their upcoming internationals against Australia and Italy, though his fitness for the double-header remained in question.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said that Saka had not trained at all and was “not available” despite insisting on Friday that he was in contention to face City. That now appears to have been kidology to try and fool City, but the Football Association are still likely to ask him to report up to check on his fitness.
The levels of kidology were such that Saka even turned up with the rest of the Arsenal squad, kit bag under his arm and Arteta tried to fool his old mentor Guardiola into thinking the England winger would make it right up until the last. Arsenal missed him sure enough. They were miles off at the start which says so much about the inferiority complex they have whenever they play City
With Saka missing, Arsenal started with a front three of Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossard. While Saka wasn't ready to return, though, Gabriel Martinelli recovered to take his place on the bench after limping off in the recent win over Everton.
Martinelli came on for the second half or his first appearance in three weeks. And it was the Brazilian who made the difference, with his deflected late effort giving the Gunners all three points.England boss Gareth Southgate addressed Saka's fitness when naming his squad. The forward has four goals already in Euros qualifying, including a hat-trick against North Macedonia in June.
"He's still being assessed as they've obviously got a big game this weekend," Southgate said before Arsenal took on City. "Then there's another seven days before we play Australia and 10 days before we play Italy so everybody will monitor everything as we go forward."
After the City game, Arteta insisted Saka would be withdrawn from the Three Lions squad. “No, he will not make it,” the manager said.
“He has not trained for a single session," Arteta added. "He is not available to play football at the moment.”
However, England protocol requests injured players still report for duty to be assessed, so it is likely Saka could be expected to join the rest of the Three Lions squad this week.
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