The winger has sat out the last two matches after picking up a muscle injury in England’s defeat to Greece earlier this month. Mikel Arteta said that Saka - who has seven assists and three goals in 10 matches this term - faces a race against time to be ready for the weekend.
Bukayo Saka Arsenal injury latest ahead of Liverpool after Ian Wright's 'big deal' claim
“I think he [Saka] is going to be close obviously," the Gunners boss said following Wednesday’s 1-0 Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk. "We have to see how he deals with training with the whole group because he hasn't done that yet but he will be pretty close hopefully."
Arsenal have four days to assess Saka ahead of the visit of Liverpool, who top the Premier League and are currently on an eight-game winning run. They have also won each of their six away matches this campaign.
Arsenal, who lost 2-0 to Bournemouth last Saturday, will be without the injured Martin Odegaard and the suspended William Saliba for the contest. Meanwhile, Riccardo Calafiori remains a doubt having been taken off a knee problem against Shakhtar.
Like Saka, Jurrien Timber missed the trip to Bournemouth and has yet to play since being substituted at half-time in the European win over Paris Saint-Germain on October 1. Supporters will hope that Saka is not absent from the matchday squad again this weekend and Seaman has offered a belated update.
Speaking on his podcast, ‘ Seaman Says ’, the former goalkeeper revealed: “When I was in last Thursday at Arsenal, coaching with the young goalies, I saw Bukayo with his boots on and I was like, ‘ah, good sign’.” Not trainers or anything like that. He was going off to do some one-to-one rehab. So hopefully it’s not too bad, the injury he’s got”
Saka’s absence against Bournemouth was only the fourth Premier League matchday squad he has missed for Arsenal in three-and-a-half years (since April 2021).
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