Arsenal is set to be without key man Bukayo Saka for a spell with the forward to miss next week's trip to Liverpool and several more important upcoming games for Mikel Arteta

Arsenal will be without Bukayo Saka when it takes on Liverpool at the start of next month after the muscle injury that forced the England ace off against Bayern Munich midweek.

Saka is expected to miss at least a few weeks of action, with Arsenal fearful that he could be out until December, pending further scans to investigate the full extent of the issue.

According to the Daily Mirror, the Gunners are worried that Saka could face another lengthy spell on the treatment table, this time with a thigh problem. The 25-year-old was absent for 15 games for club and country last year because of three separate concerns.

"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," Arteta explained on Friday.

"We’ll know more probably tomorrow. We need a few more scans and opinions from the specialist.

"Obviously 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. So again, let’s be a little bit patient so we can give a definitive assessment and then let you know."

In Saka's absence, 16-year-old Max Dowman could start. He netted against Everton, the team Arsenal will take on this weekend, last season.

"It’s something inevitable, to go back to that memory and the feeling of the moment," Arteta continued.

"That’s with us, and that’s going to stay in the stadium for a long, long time, I think.

"He’s training, and every time he’s got a moment to play, he’s showing that he’s a player who is going to impact the game, so for sure he’s going to have minutes."

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Liverpool has some injury worries of its own heading into this weekend. Victor Munoz is a major doubt, while Dominik Szoboszlai is yet to fully recover.

However, Bradley Barcola is fine to play against Brighton even though he missed Thursday's team training session. Liverpool is simply managing his minutes after a heavy recent workload.

Before facing Arsenal, Liverpool will also host Brighton in the Premier League and then Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. Andoni Iraola's men have Fenerbahce and Crystal Palace after that and before the November international break.