Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey, Leandro Trossard – Arsenal injury news and return dates ahead of crunch capital clash with Chelsea
Once England vs Italy is done and dusted Premier League action thankfully takes centre stage once again – with Arsenal gearing up for their London derby against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.
With the Gunners going into the international break on a high after beating Pep Guardiola’s treble-winners Manchester City, hopes are high that Mikel Arteta’s side will pick up where they left off as they begin a crucial run of games in three competions over the next couple of weeks.
However, Arteta has a few injury concerns and faces the stark possibility that his team may well be without a number of stars for the weekend clash in the west of the capital.
The Gooner takes a look at those latest injury worries for Arsenal, with updates and possible return dates.
Bukayo Saka
Injury: Hamstring and thigh
The 22-year-old Hale End graduate was subbed off early during the 2-1 Champions League defeat at the Stade Bolleart – making the Lens loss the third match in a row that the England star was replaced. The winger was subsequently left out of the Arsenal squad completely against City.
While Arteta insisted after the match that Saka would not feature for England during the friendly against Australia on Friday and today’s match against Italy [Tuesay, October 17] the FA in their wisdom demanded that Arsenal’s injured player still had to make the 200 mile round trip to St George’s Park to be assessed by their own medical team – before they agreed with the Gunners inital verdict.
What England said: “Bukayo Saka will play no part in England’s fixtures with Australia and Italy. The forward reported to St. George’s Park on Monday alongside the rest of the Three Lions’ squad. Having missed Arsenal’s Premier League win against Manchester City on Sunday through injury, Saka was assessed by the England medical team and it was decided the player would continue his rehabilitation at his club.”
What Arteta said after City: “He felt something and then you are tempted to risk him, but he was unable to train yesterday so that put him out of the game straight away. It’s a blow not to have him but we have lost players in recent weeks and have adapted to it. He is a really important player, there is no question about that, but the team has to use the resources that we have to make it, even without him.”
Thomas Partey
The influential defensive midfielder returned to action before the international break when he came on from the bench during the 1-0 victory over City – following a spell out, after the 30-year-old was sidelined with a groin problem from the Fulham game onwards.
As such, Partey was named in Ghana’s XI for their friendly with Mexico on Sunday. The Arsenal man was replaced at the interval, with much speculation as to his fitness.
Ghana head coach Chris Hughton provided clarity after the match.
“Thomas was always only going to play 45 minutes,” the former Spurs defender said. “He has been out injured for three to four weeks, he came back for Arsenal last midweek, was on the subs bench for one game and played 20 minutes for the next game. So we knew he was only going to play 45 minutes.”
Leandro Trossard
Trossard made an appearance off the bench during the 2-1 defeat at Lens, with Arteta’s picking the former Brentford attacker in his starting XI vs City after it was decided that Saka would not feature.
Alas, the Belgian played only the first half due to a hamstring niggle, before he was replaced by Gabi Martinelli, who went on to grab the winner.
Trossard subsequently withdrew from the squad and is deemed to still be short for Chelsea as things stand.
