Mikel Arteta must resist the temptation to start Bukayo Saka for Arsenal when Manchester City arrive in North London on Sunday.
It has now been revealed that Bukayo Saka has a hamstring issue that will be assessed day by day at London Colney.
It would seem that Arsenal are unwilling to rule Saka out of the game and that’s probably why he’s been named the initial England squad too.
Saka has shown a remarkable recovery rate over years, rarely ever missing a game despite the knocks he takes.
But a hamstring injury is different, and Arteta must think about the long-term implications.
Any choice probably would be a lot easier were Gabriel Martinelli available for the game.
The Brazilian remains a big doubt for the match and is likely to be ruled out.
Therefore, if both wingers were missing Arteta would face a tough choice.
Gabriel Jesus has been deployed at left-wing in the past few league games, a role he’s fulfilling well.
But Arteta does still have both Reiss Nelson and Leandro Trossard in reserve if Saka is absent for Arsenal.
Arsenal and Arteta can’t afford to lose Saka for a long period
Although Nelson would seem an obvious choice to come in, Arteta hasn’t seemed to trust the winger starting in big games.
And that has begged the question of whether Nelson is good enough for Arsenal.
Kai Havertz is definitely an option to play in the front three.
There’s a strong case to say that Arteta should consider the German centrally, as he did in the Community Shield against City.
As you can tell, Arteta has so many options, and he simply can’t risk Saka worsening his injury or Arsenal will suffer.
It’s a huge game for the club, but the whole season doesn’t hang on it.
And Arsenal have to be confident that they can get a result even when their star man is occasionally missing.
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