Mikel Arteta has claimed that Bukayo Saka was an injury doubt ahead of Arsenal's 3-1 win against Manchester United on Saturday afternoon.
The north Londoners got off to the perfect start at the Emirates Stadium, with young fullback Nuno Tavares breaking the deadlock in the third minute. Saka then doubled his side's advantage from the penalty spot just after Eddie Nketiah 's goal had been ruled out for offside by VAR.
Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed one back for United before Bruno Fernandes failed to convent his spot-kick after the aforementioned Tavares handled the box in the Arsenal penalty area. Ronaldo also had a goal ruled out for offside before Swiss captain Granit Xhaka wrapped up the scoring with a long-range thunderbolt past David de Gea. Still, Gunners supporters were left worried when Saka was substituted after picking up a knock in the second half and Arteta even admitted that the Hale End academy graduate almost didn't play against the Red Devils.
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Speaking to BT Sport after the win on Saturday, the Spaniard said: "We had four or five [players] with difficulties to make the team before. He [Saka] was one, [Benjamin] White was one, Granit had an eye issue, Eddie [Nketiah] hasn’t played many minutes.
"The boys are doing everything they can to be on the field and I feel lucky." When quizzed about Saka specifically, he added: "Bukayo was struggling even to start the match, but he really wanted to do it.
"He had a big knock the other night and at one stage today he was struggling so we’ll see how he is."
