Bukayo Saka: Mikel Arteta reveals Arsenal star has 'a lot of things' to do before injury return | OneFootball

Gunners travel to the Basque country in first European encounter of the season

Your matchday briefing on Arsenal, featuring team news and expert analysis from Simon Collings

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that Bukayo Saka has “quite a lot of things” ahead of him before he is to make his return from injury.

Arteta said at the end of August that he believed his talisman would only be out for “a couple of weeks”, but the 24-year-old has now missed the north Londoners’ last two Premier League fixtures - the 1-0 defeat by Liverpool and the 3-0 victory against Nottingham Forest - as well as the most recent international break.

Arsenal return to European action this week when they take on Athletic Bilbao in their opening Champions League league phase game on Tuesday.

Asked about when Saka could potentially be back in contention, Arteta said: “He still has quite a lot of things to go through, and it is very early to understand what week he is going to be available.

“He will certainly be pushing to be available as quickly as possible. Unfortunately we have a few players already out and that means we are limited in certain positions.”

William Saliba was named in the Gunners’ matchday squad for the win over Forest, but he did not feature to complete his comeback from an ankle injury.

Captain Martin Odegaard faces another spell on the sidelines after he was withdrawn last weekend with a shoulder problem, while Kai Havertz continues his comeback trail from a knee issue.

Christian Norgaard, a recent arrival from Brentford, has also been out with a knock picked up in pre-season, although the Dane trained with the squad on Monday ahead, and could be in line for a return here.

Arsenal have still not lifted a trophy since their 2020 FA Cup win, although they came close to the Champions League, reaching the semi-finals.

They were defeated in the last four by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain.

“We were very unlucky in the semi-final not to get through,” Arteta said of last season’s run.

“That is the moment you get deflated. And you have to understand what you need to do. But you take a lot of learnings from that, it is painful, and the expectations that we created was that we could go all the way. We showed a very good level of consistency and quality to reach that.

“It shows how difficult it is because we haven’t won it yet. We know it is going to be a really long journey.

“In this competition you fail more than you succeed.

“The margins in this competition are super small and you have to give yourself the best chance to win the game, and that includes having a full squad.

“But we are good enough and we can compete with any opposition on the day.”