Mikel Arteta said both Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice didn’t look very good after Arsenal’s draw at Chelsea, sparking injury concerns for both the Gunners and England.
Arteta’s team were held to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in a game which didn’t lack effort or intensity, but was missing quality.
Gabriel Martinelli put the visitors ahead on the hour-mark, beating goalkeeper Robert Sanchez at this near post.
The lead only lasted 10 minutes, though, as Pedro Neto made a central burst after moving to the right wing and fired in a low shot past David Raya from 20 yards.
Arsenal pushed for a second and Saka was doingthat pushing when he dashed for the byline and tried to fire a cross in. His effort was caught by Sanchez and the England winger was left in some discomfort on the grass.
There seemed little chance of continuing, with Saka swiftly replaced by Gabriel Jesus, limping off the pitch.
The injury came shortly after Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella was booked for a late challenge on the 23-year-old.
This was 10 minutes after Rice had gone off the pitch, replaced by Mikel Merino, although it was not clear what had happened to the England midfielder.
Arteta said that the signs were bad for both players after the game, telling Sky Sports: ‘They don’t look very good, to be fair.’
Asked if they were possibly long-term injuries, he said: ‘I don’t know, but they both couldn’t finish the game so not good’
Arteta said that his main priority for the upcoming international break is to get his squad up to full fitness again, or as close as possible, and then he is sure that results will improve.
‘Now my biggest thing is physically get everybody at their best beause we have players out there who cannot play more than 60 minutes, they are playing and struggling,’ he said.
‘We are having to change a lot of things and that affects our team. What I want in the international break is that we are fully fit and with that I am confident we will have a great season.’
There was encouraging injury news for Arteta as captain Martin Odegaard returned to the starting XI for the first time since August as has recovered from an ankle injury.
‘Our player has been out for six weeks and barely trained with the team,’ Arteta said of the Norwegian. ‘To be able to play at this level in the Premier League tells you how much he looks after himself and the leadership and character he has. Everything flows better with players like this. Today we clicked much better. You could see everything was flowing but again it is about winning.
‘What we have found is that every day we have had to change something big, you know, the engine, the wheels, steering wheel because we’ve had problem after problem. Normally the team goes down but this team has unbelievable energy and spirit to play.’
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