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Arsenal’s manager Mikel Arteta spoke to the press ahead of his club’s match against Chelsea. While a lot of questions from the media were surrounding the involvement of his players in the upcoming international break matches, one particular topic was about the fitness of winger Bukayo Saka. Saka, who is a mainstay winger for the Gunners, has been out, injured with a hamstring problem since December 2024 and is expected to return to the first team by April this year. Notably, Bukayo has already started training on the pitch individually with other assistant coaches of Arsenal; and Arteta sounded confident that he would be a part of team training sessions soon.
He said, “He’s going to be here next week. Hopefully with the ball at his feet.” Arteta also mentioned how his recovery process till now has been positive and it will be interesting to see how he copes with competitive training. While Saka has only managed to play 24 games across all competitions for Arsenal this season, he has shown the sheer quality he possesses with nine goals and 13 assists in those games.
Arteta hopeful that Saka will be fit for Arsenal’s UCL fixture against Real Madrid
While the current weekend Premier League fixture against Chelsea is a big one for the North-London club, Arteta will also have his eyes upon another massive fixture in the club’s schedule after the international break gets over, which is the quarter-final of the Champions League. After defeating PSV with an aggregate scoreline of 9-3, the Gunners will now have to face a tough test against 15 times winner Real Madrid in the next round.
Mikel Arteta mentioned that he is excited to play against Madrid in the UCL but at the same time he is focused on the immediate fixtures in the Premier League. He said, “It’s a fascinating pairing. We’re going to play against the club with the most history in the competition.” With positive signs around Saka’s recovery process, Arteta will hope that his star winger gets match-fit before this mammoth fixture.
