Arsenal were without Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori for their damaging Premier League defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners were deservedly beaten at Emirates Stadium, with Andoni Iraola’s side outplaying the North Londoners on what was a miserable day for Mikel Arteta’s men. Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott scored either side of Viktor Gyokeres’ penalty, condemning Arsenal to their third loss in their last four games across all competitions.
Gyokeres believes the state of the Emirates pitch impacted the Gunners’ performance, although it’s likely that the absence of key players was a more significant contributing factor.
Mikel Arteta’s response to Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori injury question
Arsenal have had to deal with a number of injury issues throughout this season. Saka has been unavailable for large stretches, as have the likes of Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke.
The Gunners were somewhat depleted when Bournemouth visited N5 on Saturday. Saka, Odegaard, Calafiori, Jurrien Timber and Mikel Merino were all unavailable, while Piero Hincapie and Eberechi Eze were only fit enough to make the bench.
Saka hasn’t featured for the Gunners since the Carabao Cup final in March, and there are concerns that the winger may not be able to make a significant impact when he does finally return. Odegaard made a brief return last week, but appears to have succumb to injury once again.
Meanwhile, Calafiori’s persistent niggles continue. Speaking to the media after the Bournemouth game, Arteta was asked about the trio’s fitness status’, and his answer won’t fill supporters with confidence.
“No [on Calafiori], and on Martin [Odegaard] as well, no. Bukayo Saka, too,” he said.
“We don’t have an update yet.”
While this response doesn’t confirm anything, the fact that there is no concrete update on any of the three players doesn’t suggest that they are close to a return.
What Mikel Arteta said about Arsenal being tired vs Bournemouth
Arsenal’s injury issues have no doubt stemmed from the congested fixture schedule and the resulting fatigue. Until they were beaten by City in the Carabao Cup final last month, Arteta’s side were competing on four fronts.
Asked whether he believes tiredness is affecting the team, Arteta refused to use this as an excuse.
| Arsenal | Statistic | Bournemouth |
| 53% | Possession | 47% |
| 15 | Total shots | 8 |
| 3 | Shots on target | 3 |
| 10 | Corners | 1 |
| 1 | Saves | 2 |
| 1 | Yellow cards | 3 |
“I don’t want to pull those excuses because we’ve been playing so many games every three days, we’re going to have to continue to do that, so that’s the context, that’s the scenario,” he said.
“We have to embrace it and especially enjoy the opportunity. That’s one of the things that I haven’t seen from the team today, that level of enjoyment in certain moments and the fight that we have to really change the course of the game when it gets difficult.
“We’re going to have different contexts from here to June, and we need to be able to adapt and resolve all of them, if we want to achieve what we want to achieve, that’s clear.”
