Bukayo Saka faces “more than two months” on the sidelines after undergoing surgery to repair his torn hamstring, says Mikel Arteta.
Saka sustained the injury to his right leg during the first half of Arsenal’s Premier League win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Speaking on Friday after Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Ipswich Town, Arteta said the 23-year-old would be out until March.
“He had a procedure. Everything went well, but unfortunately he will be out for many, many weeks,” said Arteta.
“I said many weeks so I think it will be more than two months. I don’t know exactly how much longer. It will depend on how the scar tissue starts to heal, the first week or so, the mobility of that. Let’s see it’s very difficult to say.”
It means the England forward is set to miss key league games against Tottenham Hotspur (January 15) and Manchester City (February 2), as well as Arsenal’s FA Cup third-round tie against Manchester United (January 12).
He will also be absent for their remaining two Champions League league phase fixtures, both of which are in January, and the knockout phase play-offs if Arsenal fail to finish in the top eight.
Having already missed two matches for Arsenal and three for England with separate hamstring issues earlier this season, Saka will also be unavailable for Arsenal’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Newcastle United on February 5.
In more positive news, Arteta revealed that Raheem Sterling’s knee injury is not as worse feared and the 30-year-old would be assessed before Arsenal’s trip to Brentford on New Year’s Day.
“We have to see this week how he evolves,” said Arteta. “We probably expected the knee injury to take longer than it has evolved in the last few days. Hopefully that’s good news because we need him.”
GO DEEPER
Saka is the latest to suffer as hamstring problems increase across the Premier League
(Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
