Mikel Arteta warned Bukayo Saka comeback has given him a major problem | Football
Mikel Arteta has been warned that Bukayo Saka’s return from injury is set to provide him with a major selection headache.
The England international has missed his side’s last 19 games in all competitions as a result of the hamstring injury he suffered playing against Crystal Palace back in November.
Saka is closing in on making his eagerly-anticipated comeback against Fulham next week and, should he come through that unscathed, would be in contention to feature against Real Madrid a week on Tuesday.
Arsenal have struggled in the absence of their most productive attacking player, but Saka’s spell on the sidelines has had one major positive given the opportunities it has provided to Ethan Nwaneri.
The teenager, who turned 18 earlier this month, is nominally a central midfielder but has been deployed on the right wing while Saka has been undergoing a period of rehabilitation.
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Nwaneri has adapted to the role superbly and former England winger Stewart Downing believes it will be interesting to see how Arteta is able to accommodate both players between now and the end of the season.
‘Arsenal have had so much success in recent years with their youngsters, and the good thing about Mikel [Arteta] is that he’s not afraid to put them into the limelight,’ Downing told Ladrbrokes.
How Arsenal will manage Bukayo Saka’s return
Every time he plays they will be straight back at it at the training ground, testing his hamstring muscle strength, testing his biomechanics, testing his muscular endurance. They will be looking at getting him that exposure [back to first team football], come back in and see how he responds. Give him a bit more exposure, get him back in again and see how he responds and make sure everything looks okay. They will keep doing that until they feel he has built of a level of resilience ands robustness so they can start putting the pieces together more frequently. Arsenal have world class staff, they will have a very detailed and intricate plan and I am sure they will do a good job.
They’ll have some key markers to help them understand his hamstring functions, strength, its endurance, some of his biomechanics and movement capabilities. They will look at recovery as well and understand what he is able to do in a game, what type of distance he covers, how many accelerations, they will be comparing this to pre-injury and other athletes on the pitch to make sure he is at the same level or what they and Saka would expect.
Saka has had a lot of downtime which in some respects is great but ideally they would have wanted him with more football under his belt to come back in at the end of the season ready. Of course, a world class player coming back in can really help drive them towards the end of the finishing line but they also have a player who hasn’t had a lot of football. Even if the physical side of things is great, will he be match fit, will he be sharp. Can he just slot back in tactically and technically?
Stephen Smith, Kitman Labs Founder and CEO, was speaking exclusively to Metro.
Kitman Labs is the world’s leading performance intelligence and technology company, specialising in injury welfare and performance analytics working with the Premier League.
‘You know, Bukayo Saka is a product of the youth team, and right now you’ve got Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri… Nwaneri is actually at a point now where you’re thinking ‘he could actually push Saka for a starting place’.
‘I’m sure he can play in a number of positions, but Saka must be watching him and thinking ‘I’m going to have to be on my toes here’.
‘For a few years now, that position out on the right has very much been his, but Nwaneri has come in and made it his own, really.
‘You know, and you look at the goals he’s scoring, he’s so similar to Saka. He’s a proper Premier League player already, and he’s just turned 18.
‘The problem Mikel is going to have will be ‘where do I fit him in?’ And look, it’s not a bad problem to have!’
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Mikel Arteta warned Bukayo Saka comeback has given him a major problem | Football
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