Mikel Arteta says Arsenal star is actually one of the most ‘robust’ players in the entire Premier League

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Arsenal have had several injury issues since the start of the 2023/24 season.

We’re almost at the halfway point of the campaign and Mikel Arteta hasn’t had a fully fit squad at his disposal at any point.

That has had an impact on some of Arsenal’s results, and to make things worse, their best player has now suffered a serious injury.

Arteta revealed that Bukayo Saka will be out for many weeks after he suffered a hamstring injury in the Premier League game against Crystal Palace.

Mikel Arteta hails Arsenal star Bukayo Saka’s robustness

Saka has been one of Arsenal’s best players for many years now.

The Englishman, now 23, made his Gunners debut when he was just 17. He was a part of a struggling side then, but he is among the biggest reasons why Arsenal are so good today.

Saka’s quality on the ball and effectiveness in the final third is what makes him an unbelievable player, but what many people ignore is how durable he is.

Since the start of the 2020/21 season, Saka has played nearly 13,000 minutes of football for Arsenal – over 4700 minutes more than any other Gunners attacker.

Despite that, he has never been out for a long period of time due to injury. Arteta is hopeful that this robustness will help him overcome his hamstring problem sooner than expected.

He said, as per HaytersTV: “When you look at his history in six years, it’s incredible.

“I mean, it’s very difficult to find a more robust player in the league, especially at his age, when the level goes up like a spike – national team, club, everything.

“That’s fine, it’s an injury, we have to go over it and he will be fine.”

The 10 games Bukayo Saka will definitely miss after his injury

TalkSPORT revealed recently that Saka will definitely be out until February.

That is a humongous blow as it means that he will definitely miss 10 Arsenal games in all competitions in the coming weeks.

Here are those 10 fixtures:

The EFL Cup semi-final against Newcastle United followed by consecutive home fixtures against Manchester United, Tottenham and Aston Villa are all huge games.

Saka would’ve made a big difference in those fixtures, but unfortunately for him and Arsenal, he will not be fit to play a part.

It’s still unclear when Saka will be back in February. If he can make it back right at the start of the month, he will be available to face Manchester City. That would give Arsenal a huge boost.