Mikel Arteta has opened up on Bukayo Saka’s injury after the winger was forced to leave the pitch during Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby.
The Gunners recorded a third-successive win at rivals Spurs on Sunday thanks to a stunning header from Gabriel. They were without midfield stars Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard but still managed to take all three points from their trip.
Arsenal’s injury crisis may have faced another blow during the victory, however, as Saka was forced to leave the pitch, bringing 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri on in his place.
“I made two changes with the front players and suddenly he’s down,” Arteta told reporters after the game when asked to reveal the outcome of Saka’s injury. “So I looked at the bench and the options that we had, so we had to adapt. I don’t know exactly what it is, but he could not continue.”
The Gunners boss also took the time to address Odegaard’s recovery after the captain picked up a brutal ankle injury whilst on international duty with Norway.
“Regarding Martin,” he continued. “We still have to wait and see the news. He certainly wasn’t available to play today.”
When asked what the win meant to the red side of north London, the boss said: “Well, I’m super happy, obviously. We know what it means to our club, to our people to win a London derby, and we have the power to try to make them very happy.
“So hopefully we have achieved that and that makes it very special. On the performance we had moments in the game, some really good ones, some others that we have to suffer. We suffered because we have to adapt a little bit the plan because of the players that we had available.
“I loved it because since the day that we started to get by, the team got hungrier and hungrier to play the game and that’s a big compliment to everybody at the club to behave in a certain way.
“It’s a tough week that’s coming up, and instead of finding any little excuses or arguments to do that – the opposite, face the challenge, play with courage, acknowledge our qualities and what we have to be able to do to win a game, and we’ve actually done it.”
Arsenal return to action on Thursday when they face Atalanta in the Champions League.