Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted that he might need to protect youngster Bukayo Saka due to the amount of minutes he’s played of late.

The Gunners travel to Elland Road on Sunday to face Leeds United in the Premier League and desperately need a response to the 3-0 defeat they suffered to Aston Villa before the international break.

Saka, 19, is a nailed-on starter for the North London club in the league and has continued to make a big impression in the first-team this season.

The £40,000-a-week star (Times) played in all three of England’s games as a left wing-back, which just proves he’s becoming an important player under Gareth Southgate and looks in a real position to be in next summer’s squad for the European Championships.

His recent success for club and country has resulted in him having little rest, something that Arteta did mention ahead of the fixture against Leeds.

“Well, I’ll have to see today when he comes back how he’s looking and how he’s feeling. Obviously, he’s a 19-year-old kid and he’s played a lot of football in the last few months and we have to protect him,” Arteta said, as quoted by the club’s official website.  

“I understand from Gareth’s point of view as well, he had the injury of [Ben] Chilwell and he probably didn’t plan to give him that many minutes but the circumstances forced him to do it. From my side, it’s not ideal, but if I was in Gareth’s shoes, I would have done exactly the same.

“It is what it is, let’s see how he comes back and try to get him fit and recovered and see how he is for Sunday.”

TBR’s View:

There are the options in the Arsenal squad for Saka to be left out of the XI this weekend, but they could really do with his pace and energy against a Leeds team that are going to play with such a high intensity for 90 minutes at Elland Road.

It’s certainly not the game the North London club would’ve picked to try return to winning ways and the opposition are going to be desperate themselves for three points after back-to-back losses before the internationals.

Arteta is going to assess Saka in training ahead of the weekend, but it won’t be the biggest surprise if he’s bluffing and intends to use him on Sunday.