Think Bukayo Saka got kicked few times but hopefully it’s not serious, admits Mikel Arteta

While Arsenal strolled through against Nottingham Forest, beating Steve Cooper’s side 5-0 on the night, Arsenal and England fans alike were more concerned about Bukayo Saka. The young attacker had to be replaced barely 27 minutes into the fixture after a series of kicks and a heavy challenge from Renan Lodi saw him struggle to continue. That has put Saka’s place at the World Cup in doubt with more than a few people worried about England’s future.

However, Mikel Arteta has assuaged those fears and instead admitted that he is hopeful that Saka’s injury isn’t that serious for the 21-year-old to miss the World Cup. The Arsenal boss also added that the forward was “kicked a few times” but despite that, he didn’t see anything too seriously wrong with him.

“Hopefully not. It was a bad kick right from the beginning and he (Bukayo Saka) was limping. But I didn’t see anything further than that so let’s see how he is in the next couple of days. I think he got kicked a few times,” Arteta said, reported the Guardian.

The Gunners have endured a tough run of form recently with a 1-1 draw against Southampton followed by a limp 2-0 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League. However, they responded strongly with a big win over Nottingham Forest but Arteta asserted that they had to do exactly that against a tough opponent. 

“Big teams have to respond and we did that after the disappointment of Thursday night. Not only physically and mentally, but we also had to be ready against a team that beat Liverpool,” he added.