Arsenal: Mikel Arteta confirms new Bukayo Saka injury blow as recovery timeline revealed | OneFootball

Winger seems set to miss midweek Champions League clash

Mikel Arteta revealed Bukayo Saka is battling an Achilles injury, but hopes the Arsenal winger will return in "days not weeks".

Saka has not played since the Carabao Cup final last month. He joined up with England for just one day before then withdrawing from international duty and he has missed three Arsenal matches since then.

"It's something that he was carrying for a while," Arteta said. "It was an Achilles issue."

"It's progression but hopefully it's going to be a matter of days and not weeks. But he has to see when the load is more how he responds to that kind of progression."

Speaking after Saturday's defeat to Bournemouth, Arteta called on Arsenal's injured stars to do everything to return "immediately" to help get the season back on track.

The Gunners are on a run of three defeats in four matches, all in different competitions, and the campaign is now on a knife-edge.

Asked if he needed his players to play through the pain, even if it meant taking risks with their fitness, Arteta replied: "They are trying to do that.

"We know how important availability is in this crucial period of the season. Obviously we've been missing four or five starters now for weeks, which has an impact.

"That's why we need them back, that's for sure."

Arteta had been typically coy with his team news during the pre-match press conference.

He said he did not want to reveal what Declan Rice's injury was, after the midfield missed training, and said that "maybe one" of Jurrien Timber and Saka could return to face Sporting.

However, the Arsenal manager hit back at the suggestion that supporters had grown frustrated with the lack of clarity over player availability.

"I don't see that from the supporters at all and I know a lot of them - I don't have that feeling," Arteta said.

"From 60,000 [maybe some], but the majority of that are so happy to see the team regardless of the players," Arteta said.

"No manager... I think if you give me a press conference where [they] give me the lineup, then we talk about a different thing but I don't think it's the case."