Arsenal have suffered a huge blow after it was confirmed that Bukayo Saka is injured.
The Gunners have had all sorts of problems this season. It’s almost Christmas and Mikel Arteta is yet to have a fully fit squad available at his disposal.
Arsenal welcomed Riccardo Calafiori and Declan Rice back from their injuries in the win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League, but they were then dealt their biggest blow of the campaign.
Saka appeared to pull his hamstring and limped off the pitch. Arteta has now had his say on the cause behind his number seven’s injury.
Mikel Arteta explains why Arsenal star Bukayo Saka got injured
Saka is Arsenal’s best player.
The Englishman has been on top of his game this season. Before the clash against Crystal Palace in the Premier League, he had directly contributed to 22 goals in 23 appearances.
Everything was going to plan for Saka, but in the first half of the game at Selhurst Park, the 23-year-old went down right after a cross. Everyone could tell that he had hurt his hamstring.
In his press conference on Monday, Arteta claimed that Saka will be out for many weeks. That is a humongous blow for the Gunners.
The Arsenal manager was then asked if the congested fixture schedule was the real reason why his star right-winger suffered his injury.
He replied, as per Arsenal.com: “Yeah, but it’s probably more the accumulation of seasons. You know, for example, Bukayo and Declan – they played over 130 games in two seasons.
“So what’s gonna happen in the second one, the third one or the fourth one, if that continues the same way? Probably it’s unsustainable, unless we find ways to, yeah, physically turn them into monsters, you know, that they can cope with anything.
“Because the fact that you play and recover is not a good pattern. Because that means that you don’t train and the body needs to train, the muscle needs to train. You just play and recover, you start to lose a lot of factors, a lot of qualities within your body, the physical aspects that are key to performance.
“Not just to play, not to get injured, but to become a better athlete, which is very different and keep evolving as an athlete, and that’s a challenge, but okay, we’re trying to find ways to do it.”
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Injury expert responds to Mikel Arteta’s claim about Bukayo Saka
The amount of games that top players are being asked to play for club and country is just ridiculous – that is the reason why there are so many injuries.
The domestic club campaign is gruelling in almost every country, but the number of international games have gone up as well. That has made it worse.
Arteta is spot on with his assessment above – just playing and recovering without having the time to train is not good for any athlete’s body, irrespective of the sport.
Dr Rajpal Brar, who is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a Fitness & Movement coach, and a Sports Scientist, completely agreed with what the Arsenal manager said.
The injury expert tweeted: 100% on point. The constant cycle of just play and recover without being able to actually build up your body, it’s a recipe for injuries and why we’re seeing more big-name players get them.”
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