After 5-1 thumping of London rivals Crystal Palace was clouded by Bukayo Saka’s injury, Mikel Arteta has revealed a second Arsenal blow ahead of their next game against Ipswich Town.
Arsenal injury news
Perhaps silencing a few doubters, Arsenal were in a free-scoring mood from the off against Palace with the revived Gabriel Jesus stealing the show for the second time in a week against Palace. Scoring twice, the Brazilian has suddenly burst into life at the perfect time for the Gunners and was joined by Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli on the scoresheet.
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Arsenal may have won 5-1 but it wasn’t all positive for the Gunners against Crystal Palace.
Arsenal’s day was far from perfect, however, with Saka limping off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury before he was then pictured leaving Selhurst Park on crutches in worrying scenes for Arteta in the middle of such a hectic schedule.
Speaking about the injury, Arteta told reporters as relayed by Fabrizio Romano: “We are pretty worried about Saka’s injury. He grabbed his hamstring and couldn’t continue. He will have to be assessed but we are pretty worried, yes.”
He’s not the only one that the Spaniard is concerned about, however. As confirmed by Arteta, Raheem Sterling has handed Arsenal another injury scare and could now miss the Ipswich game, meaning that they’ll also be without their potential replacement for Saka.
Arteta told reporters via Connor Humm: “We lost Raheem [Sterling] yesterday, we don’t know how long for as well.”
Already struggling in open play at times this season, Arsenal will have quite the battle on their hands if they’re forced to go ahead without Saka and without an ideal replacement in Sterling. That said, the latter’s injury almost sums up his struggle to make an impact since arriving on loan from Chelsea in the summer.
“Great” Sterling has struggled at Arsenal
Whilst a loan deal to sign the £163,000-a-week winger was relatively risk-free, some in North London may have believed that Sterling would have made his mark by now. The Gunners are crying out for a world-class left-winger, but it’s become clearer than ever that Sterling is no longer the player capable of providing that despite stealing the headlines for so many years in the Premier League.
With his best days arguably behind him, Sterling has started just two Premier League games with his only Arsenal goal coming in a 5-1 mauling of Bolton Wanderers. With Saka injured, an opportunity would have arguably been there for the former Manchester City star to prove any doubters wrong, only for Sterling to suffer an ill-timed blow of his own.
Among those who may have been expecting slightly more is Arteta. The Spaniard praised Sterling back in September, telling reporters as relayed by Arsenal Insider: “He looks great. First of all, because he’s got a big smile on his face, a lot of energy, he’s at it and wants to prove a point.
“When someone’s got that in his belly, you sense it straight away. Obviously I don’t need to discover anything about his quality and what he can bring to the team.”
