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Arsenal have learned the extent of Bukayo Saka's hamstring injury, and now Mikel Arteta must get creative in covering for his star winger over the festive period.
When Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka went down with a hamstring injury after just 24 minutes in the 5-1 win over Crystal Palace, there was an ominous feeling that it might be the last time we see the winger for a while.
Alas, those fears turned out to be true. Mikel Arteta stated that Saka would be out for "many weeks." With reports of a high-grade tear, the Gunners star is looking at between six and eight weeks on the sidelines. Yuck.
But football waits for no one, and the Gunners have Ipswich Town up next in the league. Arteta is going to have to figure out a plan of attack, and as it turns out, he plans on getting creative.
"We have to look internally at what we have and be creative, do a very good exercise again," Arteta said via arsenal.com. "How can we mould the squad? How can we adapt to the circumstances and be different? We cannot pretend to be the same. We’re going to have to be different and try to find the best way to do it and be very competitive and win a lot of games."
Now, attention turns to who could fill in Bukayo's role on the right wing.
The obvious choice is Gabriel Martinelli, who, when switched flanks against Palace, looked absolutely menacing with his direct pace and ability to clip in early balls into the box. However, Gabby hasn't been in superb form prior to his Palace efforts.
Leandro Trossard is another one, but he hasn't shown he is capable of filling in as a starter; more suited to a super-sub role, but the pair loom as the first-level Arteta can pull.
Others include Gabriel Jesus and even Ethan Nwaneri, so Arteta does have options, and it doesn't sound like he is too keen to dip into the transfer market for a replacement, so that leaves in-house options, for which there are several.
Just as things were starting to look up for the Gunners with Jesus and Martinelli both seemingly finding form after being in a seriously rough trot, now with Saka's injury, both will likely get ample opportunities to continue their good form.
But there's no replacing Bukayo, and as he limped off after 24 minutes at Selhurst Park, he might have taken Arsenal's title chances with him.