Arsenal suffered a disappointing 0-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, with Bukayo Saka suddenly absent from the starting XI, with Mikel Arteta later revealing the reason for his absence.
Bukayo Saka deals with ‘niggles’ (Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka will not start for Nottingham Forest due to a “minor injury”, according to Mikel Arteta. Saka was surprisingly left out of the Gunners’ line-up on Saturday night as the weight of the game was starting to take its toll.
The top teams in the Premier League were unable to capitalize on Manchester City’s 2-0 loss to Manchester United, resulting in a 0-0 draw at the City Ground. Arteta started Noni Maduez and Gabriel Martinelli and left Saka and Leandro Trossard on the bench, along with Victor Goqueres.
Both were brought on in the second half, but Arsenal could not find a way past Forest goalkeeper Mats Sells, extending their lead against City to seven points instead of nine. Saka replaced Maduke in the 57th minute and allowed Sels to score a header.
However, with a Champions League game against Serie A leaders Inter Milan on Tuesday and a home Premier League game against Manchester United on Sunday, Arteta’s post-match words could potentially be a cause for concern.
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“We need to manage our players because Bukayo has had a lot of minutes and he was giggling before the game,” Arteta said. “We have some great players who can offer something different. We tried it from the start and we tried it after half-time. We took more risks and put more players in our attacking options. We tried every way but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
Asked whether the decision was made because of the change in wingers and the number of recent games “catching up” to the players, Arteta said: “Yes, a lot. Obviously they have had a lot of playing time. So we need to manage the players and we have some great players who can offer different things.”
“And we tried from the beginning. We tried after half-time, we took more risks, we put more players into our attacking options. And we tried in every way, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
Bukayo Saka failed to find a winner for Arsenal on Saturday (Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Arsenal’s depth in the squad was evident against Forest as Saka, Trossard, Mikel Merino, Ebelesi Eze and Gabriel Jesus came off the bench in the second half. However, the five fresh players failed to make a difference as the home side held onto a precious point in the relegation battle.
“We came here to win the game and for various reasons we couldn’t do it,” Arteta said. “They are very well organized and very good at breaking up the flow when they have some advantage in the game, so that is a credit to them.
“But the players also had four big challenges: Martinelli’s open goal, Declan Rice’s attack, Mikel and Bukayo’s header.
“On top of that, we obviously didn’t get very clear penalties in the box. So the fact that we couldn’t win the game without conceding a single shot on target is still disappointing. Besides that, I think we can do better in certain attacking aspects.”
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