“We are pretty worried about Saka’s injury,” said Arteta, who added: “He grabbed his hamstring and couldn’t continue. He will have to be assessed but we are pretty worried, yes.”

It is no surprise Arteta is concerned. Bukayo Saka is not only the Premier League‘s top assist provider but also Arsenal’s second-highest scorer this season with five goals. Beyond the numbers, he is the engine of Arsenal’s offense, a player through whom much of their attacking play flows. A product of Arsenal’s youth academy, Saka has grown into a star and a leader, making him the club’s most indispensable player.

Bukayo Saka was filmed leaving Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Pak Stadium on crutches:

The extent of Bukayo Saka’s injury is still unknown, but these images worry the whole team because he could not even leave the stadium by his own means. Bukayo joins the list of injured players: Raheem Sterling, Ben White, O. Zinchenko and T. Tomiyasu. Undoubtedly, the load of matches is affecting the health of professional players, who increasingly have more frequent injuries of greater severity.

Who should step up and replace Bukayo Saka for the following matches?

We already know that Bukayo Saka is irreplaceable for Arsenal, but the following matches are very important to get on track and maintain the fight for the Premier League. The main candidate to replace him would be the Brazilian, Gabriel Martinelli. Although his ideal position is as a left winger, he has already played as a right winger and his speed, dribbling and definition would be key to maintain the high competitiveness of the team.

In addition to Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, the team’s other Brazilian player, could gain the prominence he expressed his desire for in the following games. Gabriel Jesus has never been a normal striker, he has always been seen as a modern striker and therefore is able to adapt to the left and right wings without any problem. His reading of the game and dribbling could be very useful despite not being the fastest winger. His talent for scoring goals could be vital alongside Kai Havertz with whom they could exchange heights and confuse opposing defenders.

England and Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has had an impressive start of the season, with a combined of 18 goals and assists in as many appearances for the Gunners. Due to his performance, the buzz around the 23-year-old is growing, with the press asking Mikel Arteta if he could emulate his childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo.

“To look is always good. The way Cristiano started his career, and when he joined Manchester United, nobody probably expected in the first few seasons he would be able to do that,” Arteta said, before explaining what made Ronaldo grow in the league.

“It was about his mentality, his work ethic, how he developed his skill, his chemistry with his team and to play in a team that has the capacity as well to be dominant. That is very, very important,” he said. Before adding: “I think Bukayo has got that context and if he is aiming for that, I think it is a positive thing.”

While this season, Saka’s goal contributions are only surpassed by Mohamed Salah’s in the Premier League, emulating Ronaldo is another entirely different thing. In the Premier League, the Portuguese is one of the 33 players to have surpassed the 100 goals (103).

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner had an even bigger impact in Europe, winning five Champions League titles (being the first man to do so) and becoming the competition’s all-time goalscorer.

Arteta thinks Saka will improve

However, Arteta believes that Bukayo’s contributions to the team this year are beyond the numbers, even though they are pretty good. “He is providing something else. He is adding things to his game, he is more and more consistent, and his numbers in terms of impact in goals and assists is incredible at this stage of the season,” he said.

“He can only improve, he can only get better. He has got the right players around him to continue to do so and especially because he wants more,” he added. Currently, Arsenal sit third on the Premier League standings, just behind Liverpool and Chelsea.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Arteta was asked “Who is your favorite footballer to watch?”, and the Spaniard didn’t even flinch: “It’s always been Messi, I can’t deny it. For me, and my three sons is exactly the same. Something that we have been really lucky to have the opportunity for that many years to experience, in my opinion, the best player of all times“

The interviewer pressed Arteta on his statement, mentioning names like Diego Maradona and Cristiano Ronaldo, but the Arsenal boss stood firm, saying: “For me it has to be, because the comparison of how much I watched of Messi and others.., the difference is huge. So for me, it has to be him.”

Messi and Ronaldo are two of the greatest goal scorers in soccer history. However, Arteta’s pick says a lot about how the Argentine can seamlessly adapt to a playmaker role, making him an even more entertaining player to watch on the pitch.

Arsenal player Bukayo Saka disagrees with his coach

Competing at the top level of soccer and performing superbly for nearly 20 years is something only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have achieved. This is why the next generation of young soccer stars will continue to debate who the true GOAT is.

For example, Arsenal player and young star Bukayo Saka has a different opinion compared to his coach, Arteta. “Cristiano Ronaldo was my idol growing up. He wore—still wears—the number 7. It was a dream come true for me to be given the number 7, and I’m trying to achieve some of the things he’s done, especially for my club,” Saka said in a recent Amazon Prime Video Sport interview.

Nowadays, many football players express their desire to wear the same number as their childhood idols. The truth is, Messi and Ronaldo’s influence and inspiration for younger generations are far from over.

Of course, the doubts have emerged around a team which last season lost a 7-point advantage to Manchester City. When asked if there are any changes coming, this was the answer by Arteta.

“What happened today, it cannot happen again. Today’s performance is the worst that we’ve had this season. We weren’t good enough, simple as that. We lost a game a few days ago that we deserved to win but today we were nowhere near the level.”

Will Arsenal make any signings in January transfer window?

Though thousands of fans expect some addition to Arsenal’s roster, it seems that Mikel Arteta is ready to face the final stretch of the season, at the Champions League and the Premier League, with the same players.

“We have to improve with players that after 20 league games we had the chance to be the best in the league. With these players. So, they are really good and we’re going to continue with them.”

Who will win the 2023-2024 Premier League?

Liverpool are currently leaders of the 2023-2024 Premier League with 42 points and a pending match on Monday against Newcastle. Aston Villa also have 42 points and the biggest leap in recent days came from Manchester City.

After winning the FIFA Club World Cup, Pep Guardiola’s team saw many of their rivals fall and their victory over Sheffield United put them with 40 points and one less game. They’re back in the hunt and suddenly became the odds favorites to hoist the trophy.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have 40 points followed by Tottenham (39), West Ham (33), Manchester United (31), Brighton (30) and Newcastle (29).

Unfortunately, that will cost him watching the Gunners’ next game in the stands. Arteta saw the yellow card for the third time this season, and will therefore have to serve a one-game suspension on Saturday, when his team plays Aston Villa at Villa Park.

“I could not be seated in my seat. It was pure emotion. If that’s a yellow… that’s a yellow,” Arteta told BeIN Sports after the match. While he won’t be allowed on the touchline until two hours after the game, Arteta has authorization to communicate with his assistants.

Besides, the Premier League rules also state he can have access to the locker room before the kick-off, at halftime, and after the final whistle. Therefore, it’s not like his players won’t see him at all on Saturday. Either way, Arteta has already lived a similar experience last year.

When Arteta addressed his players on Zoom before a match

On January 1, 2022, Arteta found a way to be close to his players despite being physically far from them. The coach couldn’t show up for a game against Manchester City due to Covid-19, so he addressed his players in the locker room via Zoom.

From a TV screen, the Arsenal boss delivered an epic pre-match talk that went viral as Amazon Prime Video captured the moment for the “All or Nothing” series centered on the Gunners’ 2021-22 campaign.

That day, assistant coach Albert Stuivenberg earned the nickname “Airpods Albert” as he was mic’d up to hear from the coach. On Saturday, we’ll probably see a similar situation, though Arteta will be at the stadium.

Arsenal aim to extend winning streak

The Gunners are enjoying a fantastic start to the season that sees them atop the Premier League standings with 36 points after 15 games. The team is also riding on an impressive winning streak in the league, having claimed five straight wins after conceding its first loss of the season to Newcastle.

Arteta’s team has also started its UEFA Champions League campaign strongly, securing a place in the round of 16 with one game to go in Group B. On Tuesday, Arsenal will visit PSV to conclude the group stage.

At that moment, VAR began a lengthy review to determine if there was a foul and also to confirm if the ball had not gone out of play in the preceding sequence. Undoubtedly, this was the key moment of the match.

In the end, despite what looked like clear foul by the Newcastle player, VAR concluded that the goal was valid. Therefore, at the end of the match, Arsenal’s coach, Mikel Arteta, delivered a strong message against the Premier League.

“It’s a disgrace. It’s embarrassing. That’s how I feel and that’s how everybody feels in that room. You cannot imagine the amount of messages we’ve got saying this cannot continue. It’s embarrassing. I’m sorry, embarrassing.”

Mikel Arteta had enough of VAR and Premier League referees

For Mikel Arteta, decisions like these can completely alter the course of a season. Now, Arsenal have lost their unbeaten record and are currently behind Tottenham and Manchester City in the standings.

“I feel sick. That’s how I feel. I feel sick to be part of this. It is not good enough and we cannot accept that. It’s not a goal. For many reasons, it’s not a goal. For more than one reason it’s not a goal. It’s too much at stake. We put so much effort. It’s so difficult to compete at this level and it’s an absolute disgrace. I feel embarrassed.”

Arteta, who has spent many years in England after serving as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, stated that with these episodes, the Premier League cannot be considered the best in the world.

“I’ve been more than 20 years in this country, and this is nowhere near the level to describe this as the best league in the world. I am sorry. I have to be the one coming now here to try to defend the club and please ask for help because it is an absolute disgrace this goal is allowed.”

Arsenal support Mikel Arteta’s claims against VAR and the Premier League

This Sunday, following Mikel Arteta’s comments, Arsenal issued a surprising official statement supporting their coach and demanding answers from the Premier League.

“Arsenal Football Club wholeheartedly supports Mikel Arteta’s post-match comments after yet more unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors on Saturday evening. We’d also like to acknowledge the huge effort and performance from our players and traveling supporters at St James’ Park.”

Arsenal’s complaint was very strong against the referees, asking that their quality meets the standards of the best league in the world. They even expressed their willingness to assist in this effort.

“The Premier League is the best league in the world with the best players, coaches and supporters, all of whom deserve better. PGMOL urgently needs to address the standard of officiating and focus on action which moves us all on from retrospective analysis, attempted explanations and apologies. We support the ongoing efforts of Chief Refereeing Officer, Howard Webb and would welcome working together to achieve the world-class officiating standards our league demands.”

That’s why the Gunners couldn’t afford to lose points at home against Tottenham in the famous North London derby. It was the most expected game on Matchday 6.

The rivalry didn’t disappoint. It was an exciting 2-2 tie at Emirates Stadium which thrilled millions of soccer fans around the world. Nevertheless, at least for Arsenal and Arteta, things might have been different.

Mikel Arteta’s reaction after Jorginho makes big mistake against Tottenham

Arsenal had a very disappointing North London derby as they wasted twice a massive advantage over Tottenham. They took the lead with an own goal by Cuti Romero in minute 26′, but Son Heung-Min answered before halftime (42′).

Then, the Gunners seemed to have everything under control when Bukayo Saka converted a penalty kick in minute 54′. It was a 2-1 lead to keep the pace with Manchester City and Liverpool in the standings.

The problem was that, just a few seconds later, Jorginho made a terrible mistake and Son Heung-Min capitalized to score the 2-2. Mikel Arteta’s reaction on the field went viral as Arsenal let two points slip away.

However, Arsenal’s coach gave full support to the Italian player during a postgame interview with Sky Sports. “I love him. Errors are part of football. We are all with him. No doubts. We feel like we lost two points. We scored the goal, they scored straight away, you know? Emotionally, I think that was a difficult one to take.”

Currently, Arsenal are leaders with 74 points after 31 matches played. However, they no longer control their destiny as Manchester City have 70 points with one pending game. By the way, to make things more interesting, both teams face next Wednesday at Etihad Stadium.

The last time Arsenal won the Premier Leaguewas almost two decades ago. Now, when everything seemed to be going smoothly, the title might slip away. Considering this scenario, Mikel Arteta had a shocking message for his players after a tie with West Ham.

Mikel Arteta is worried ahead of game against Manchester City

Arsenal had a 2-0 lead after only 10 minutes against West Ham. However, as it happened at Anfield, they couldn’t hold on to it. Furthermore, Bukayo Saka missed a crucial penalty kick in minute 51′. Mikel Arteta spoke loud and clear about it,

“Well, it started extremely well again and dominated the game, dominated the pitch and then scored two beautiful goals. After that, we made a huge mistake. Stop playing with the same purpose to score the third and the fourth one and just think that we can play around them and maintain the result.”

According to Mikel Arteta, Arsenal are the only ones to blame. “It just looked to easy and, on that moment, we gave them hope. Credit to West Ham because they took it. They did what they did really well. They started to play extremely direct from there. They went to a long throw, from the corner and we really struggled to get out of that game. Then there is another moment when you can go after 50 minutes 3-1 up, and probably the game is over, two minutes later you concede a goal.”

Looking ahead to the blockbuster matchup with Manchester City, Mikel Arteta looked really concerned about what he saw against West Ham. “This is part of football. My worry is after 2-0 that we made that huge mistake and don’t understood what the game required in the moment.”

In Barcelona, Pep Guardiola gave the club their Golden Era thanks to a fantastic generation of players like Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol. Though he didn’t won the Champions League at Bayern Munich, the club dazzled Germany and the world with Pep’s signature on the field. Then, Guardiola made Manchester City a powerhouse winning four of the last five Premier Leagues.

Now, Pep Guardiola might be ready for a change. A few days ago, he even questioned if his players at Manchester City were still hungry to win titles. So, in an unexpected turn of events, Guardiola said it loud and clear. Read here to check out his feelings towards a possible return to Barcelona.

Pep Guardiola is ready for a return to FC Barcelona

Prior to the FA Cup match against Arsenal in the fourth round, Pep Guardiola was asked if he ever saw Mikel Arteta’s desire to one day become the Gunners coach. Arteta was Pep’s assistant during many years with Manchester City.

So, in an incredible answer, Pep Guardiola not only spoke about Mikel Arteta and Arsenal. He went further to announce that, if FC Barcelona call him, he is finally ready to return home.

“I remember that when we were together here (Manchester City), when we scored a lot of goals with our opponents he’ll (Mikel Arteta) always jump and celebrate except with one team. It was Arsenal. So, in that moment I said, that guy likes Arsenal. It’s like me. I’m training here whatever, asisstant coach, Barcelona call me, I will go to Barcelona. It’s my club.”

Arteta’s time at Arsenal has been a mixed bag of promising to dumpster fire, still Arsenal have won 1 FA Cup and Community Shield in his time in charge of the club. While still under contract until next season rumors have begun to heat up that Arteta is one of nine options for PSG.

According to L’Equipe, Mikel Arteta would be an out of left field candidate and the PSG brass like what they see and could present Arsenal and Arteta a buyout option. Still the Daily Mirror reported that the Spanish coach has yet to commit his future to Arsenal and this has opened the door for a move.

Mikel Arteta one of nine names to take over PSG in the summer

Despite reports that Mauricio Pochettino may be sacked the reality is that the Argentine manager will most likely see out the end of the season and then be removed from his position. Arteta played at PSG for 1 season while on loan from Barcelona in 2001, and while things have dramatically changed for PSG since then, he is familiar with the club.

The question of a possible move for Arteta is what he can achieve going forward with Arsenal? The Gunners seem to have hit their peak with Arteta, and while a competitive squad Arsenal is not built for winning the Premier League nor competing in UEFA Champions League. PSG would provide Arteta that possibility to manage a deep squad built for European success.

Still, with heads rolling soon at PSG, where Arteta’s name fits with the new brass that may come in remains to be seen. The list for a new coach ranges from Arteta to Zinedine Zidane, Juventus’ Massimiliano Allegri, Ajax’s Erik ten Hag, Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone, Inter Milan’s Simone Inzaghi, Spezia boss Thiago Motta, and River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo.

As time went on Aubameyang was removed from first team training and was actively looking to leave The Gunners as soon as possible. Barcelona came in and swooped the player and even when being announced at Barcelona, Aubameyang still had to take questions regarding the issues with Arteta.

Aubameyang stated then, “My last few months were complicated, that’s football sometimes. I never wanted to do anything wrong. My problem was only with Arteta. I can’t say much more, I wasn’t happy. It was just him and he made that decision. He wasn’t happy, I can’t tell you more. He wasn’t very happy; I was very calm.” Now Arteta has spoken out regarding the issue.

What did Mikel Arteta say about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?

“I’m extremely grateful for what Aubameyang has done at the club and his contribution since I have been here and the way I see myself in that relationship is the solution, not the problem,” the Arsenal coach said.

“I have been the solution. One hundred percent. I can look in the eye of everyone. I do a lot of things wrong for sure but the intention all the time is the best and not for me, it’s for the club and the team”, Arteta added.