Bukayo Saka has been pulled from Arsenal's starting lineup against Leeds after picking up an injury in the warm-up. Noni Madueke came into the side as Christian Norgaard earned a place on the bench amid the blow for Gunners star Saka.
The England international started his pre-match preparations with the team but was later spotted heading down the tunnel at Elland Road, along with a physio. Saka was set to captain the side with Martin Odegaard among the substitutes and Gabriel Magalhaes took the armband in his place.
Arsenal confirmed the changes in a social media post. It read: "Noni Madueke replaces Bukayo Saka following an injury in the warm-up. Gabriel takes the captain's armband, with Christian Norgaard now amongst the substitutes."
Bukayo Saka
Bukayo Saka started warming up with teammates (Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
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Arsenal enter the clash hoping to bounce back from defeat to Manchester United, and now must do so without one of their key attacking assets. The north London side are also without midfield star Mikel Merino.
The Spaniard was not in Arteta's squad after suffering a foot injury. Arsenal boss Arteta issued an update on Saturday.
He said: "He’s got an issue in his foot. It’s a bone that’s giving him some pain, and we have some exams, we need some more specialists to look at it and to see how long he will be out."
Kai Havertz of Arsenal celebrates
Kai Havertz made a triumphant return for Arsenal in Europe (Image: David Price/Getty Images)
Arteta has been able to call upon Kai Havertz, however. The German star makes his return to Premier League action for the first time since the opening day of the season, starting in Odegaard's place after playing in the Champions League.
"Yeah, he's ready, obviously he started the day, obviously it's been a long period and now we need to manage that load and the games that we're going to select for him to start, but there was no reaction to that," Arteta said in his press conference.
"I think it was super positive, you could see straight away the impact that he can have in the team, so yeah, he's ready."