Arsenal travel to Manchester City for a fixture that could have major implications for the Premier League title race, but Bukayo Saka will not be involved.<\/p>\n
The timing of Saka\u2019s absence is especially damaging given Arsenal\u2019s recent domestic form. The club have lost their last three domestic affairs, exited both Cup competitions and allowed Man City to climb back into the title picture. Progression to the Champions League semifinals last time out should offer a lift, but attacking struggles have been exposed in recent weeks and Saka\u2019s unavailability is a notable setback.<\/p>\n
Saka has been sidelined by an Achilles tendon issue since he withdrew from England\u2019s camp during the March international window. What was initially regarded as a precautionary matter has persisted. He has not played since the 2\u20130 defeat against City in the Carabao Cup final, and Arsenal have won just one of their four games since.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something he was carrying a while,\u201d Arteta revealed about Saka\u2019s nagging Achilles issue prior to the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against Sporting CP. Arteta said there has been progression and expressed guarded optimism, noting the club are monitoring the recovery closely. The manager also signalled hope for a short-term return, saying the aim is for the winger to be back in “days not weeks.” <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just starting to do some stuff, so let\u2019s see that progression, how quickly we can go through it, and then wait, but at the moment it\u2019s not about that,” Arteta added when asked if Saka was back in training.<\/p>\n
Injuries have troubled Saka over the past two seasons, and he has missed more than 30 games through fitness issues since the start of 2025. Given the risks associated with Achilles problems, Arsenal are proceeding cautiously as they manage his recovery, particularly with the winger expected to feature for England in the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Noni Madueke, the natural replacement, is also an injury doubt for the trip to Manchester, though Arteta is hopeful he can be available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saka remains sidelined with an Achilles issue; Arsenal seek clarity on his return ahead of City trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1303],"tags":[1084,1569,826],"class_list":["post-12112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-news","tag-achilles-injury","tag-arsenal-injury-update","tag-bukayo-saka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}