Arsenal are preparing for a run of games without Bukayo Saka. Mikel Arteta has indicated the winger’s quadriceps problem will keep him out for weeks rather than days, and the club will only get a clearer picture once he has been scanned again in around ten days.

Saka lasted roughly ten minutes of Wednesday’s 2-2 Champions League draw with Bayern München before he had to come off, a game covered in our report from the Allianz Arena. He was not involved on Saturday, when Arteta’s side beat Everton 2-0 at the Emirates to draw level on points with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.

Fluid around the muscle delayed a diagnosis

The first assessment did not settle much. At his pre-match media conference on Friday, Arteta told reporters that Saka was going for a second MRI that afternoon. “He’s got another MRI this afternoon because he had quite a lot of fluid in the area so it was difficult to understand the extent of the injury,” the manager said, according to the transcript published by Arsenal.

He was also candid about what he had seen in Munich: “When a player has to walk off the pitch, he’s struggling to walk without any pain, he’s restricted to movement, they are not good signs.”

Once those results were back, the outlook was still open ended. Speaking before kick-off against Everton, Arteta said: “I think it will be weeks, the extent of the injury, I think we’re going to have to repeat the scans in a week, ten days to see the extent of that.” That comment was reported by GOAL, which also cited football.london in saying Saka is set to sit out at least four matches before the November international break. Arsenal have not put a timescale on his return.

Tzolis also missing as the wide options thin out

Saka is not the only absentee in the final third. After the Everton win, Arteta pointed to “the injuries to Bukayo and Christos, two players who give us so much threat in the final third”, a reference to Christos Tzolis. William Saliba is another concern, with the manager confirming that “William is not fit”.

Against Everton, Ebere Eze came into the side as one of five changes, with Noni Madueke also in the starting line-up. Late on, Riccardo Calafiori was pushed forward to the left wing while Madueke dropped back to left-back, after Arteta said the Italian had picked up what seemed to be a minor issue. Max Dowman, whose profile we examined in our tactical analysis of the teenager, is another option on the flanks.

Arteta wary of the workload when Saka returns

Arteta made clear on Friday that the issue goes beyond this single injury. Asked whether Saka needs to change as a player, he said: “It’s been muscles, it’s been tendons as well which is something else.” He added that the club must understand “what he’s capable of sustaining when he comes back, whenever that is.”

The schedule offers little relief. Arteta said after the Everton game that “we were given a terrible schedule”, with the side having played at Nottingham Forest last Sunday and in Munich on Wednesday before the Saturday 3pm kick-off. Next up is a Carabao Cup fourth round tie at Fleetwood Town on Tuesday, followed by a trip to Liverpool on 1 November.