Bukayo Saka injury update emerges at FT after Arsenal v Sevilla

Add as preferred source on Google

An update about the condition of Bukayo Saka has emerged after Arsenal played Sevilla.

Bukayo Saka was in brilliant form for Arsenal against Sevilla on Wednesday night. The winger scored the second goal as the Gunners cruised to a 2-0 win against the Spanish club in a Champions League group stage match at the Emirates Stadium.

Saka tormented the Sevilla defence all evening and they simply could not cope with him, to the extent that they resorted to kicking the Hale End academy graduate. As per WhoScored statistics, the 22-year-old was fouled five times in the match, (un)comfortably more than any other player on the pitch.

The 30-cap England international picked up a knock late on and looked to be in significant pain. Mikel Arteta was not in the mood to take any chances and brought on Jakub Kiwior in Saka’s place for the final few minutes.

After the match, Arteta had his say on the treatment that Saka received from the Sevilla players. He said, “there is contact in football and obviously for the wingers who want to take people on this is going to happen. At the end he wasn’t comfortable to carry on, hopefully it’s not too much,” as quoted by the club’s official website.

Naturally, Arsenal fans will be anxious to the extent of the damage that Saka may have sustained.

Bukayo Saka needs protection

To that end, Sky Sports reporter Nick Wright was able to provide a promising update from the Emirates Stadium after the final whistle. Wright said that there was “encouragement for Arsenal on the injury front as Saka is out on the pitch celebrating with the rest of the team.”

It is absolutely vital for the north London club that Saka can stay fit as much as possible this season. He obviously plays a lot of games, and Arteta is understandably extremely reliant on the star, but he also needs to be protected.

The responsibility for providing that protection extends beyond Arteta to the referees, too. They have to take appropriate action to punish the unfair attention that the player is often afforded by opponents. All too often, teams are able to rotationally foul Saka throughout a match without consequence. 

In the meantime, Arsenal fans and Arteta will be relieved that Saka seems to have escaped this fixture largely unscathed.