Arsenal Training Session
Saka is ready to play again after coming through his injury blow (Picture: Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Bukayo Saka is poised to make his long-awaited return for Arsenal tonight. But after three months on the sidelines having undergone hamstring surgery followed by meticulous and cautious rehabilitation, the battle to keep him fit and fresh is only getting started.
As has been the norm for the last four seasons, Saka was in imperious form throughout the first half of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign.
Injuries have been a constant headache for Mikel Arteta this season with Martin Odegaard missing three months of action between September and December. But Saka’s absence has delivered the biggest blow.
The gap between Arsenal and league leaders Liverpool was just three points the last time he appeared for the Gunners on 21 December. A 12-point chasm now separates the two with title hopes in north London all but extinguished.
In another measure of his relentless influence on the side, despite not playing in 100 days Saka is still Arsenal’s leading man in goals and assists this season. His haul of 22 goal involvements keeps him three clear of any of his teammates.
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With titanic Champions League quarter-final ties against Real Madrid looming large, Arsenal need their leading man back to his best quickly. Arteta has confirmed Saka is in line to start against Fulham this evening in news that was celebrated across the red half of north London.
But protection will be key. Gabriel Martinelli, sidelined for four games with a less severe hamstring issue, was still gradually introduced to the team, coming off the bench twice before starting against Chelsea prior to the international break. Given the extent of Saka’s injury, even more trepidation is expected.
Arsenal FC v Nottingham Forest FC - Premier League
Saka has not played since 21 December (Picture: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics working with the Premier League, sees stringent measures being taken in the coming weeks.
‘Absolutely Arsenal will be careful,’ Smith told Metro. ‘It was a serious injury. They need to find the right balance to make sure he is strong enough and make sure he is capable of meeting the demands of the game while still playing that really explosive style of football he has.’
Delving into the details behind Saka’s injury, Smith continued: ‘The scarring that we have seen is on the outside of his knee where his hamstring tendon attaches into the back of his lower leg. You have three muscles, two are inserted on the inside of your knee, one inserts on the outside of your knee. If that was on the inside of his knee in one of those tendons, that is a lot of force, a lot of power but not a lot of protection either. I am sure they will be extremely cautions with that.
Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal FC - Premier League
Arteta relieved to have his star man back in the fold (Picture: Getty Images)
‘They need to find the right balance to ensure he is capable of delivering that kind of physicality he normally would. I have no doubt as they start to bring him back they will be monitoring and measuring everything around him that to make sure he is feeling good and responding well.’
Saka’s ability to stay fit despite being one of the most fouled players in the league has broken records, once playing in 87 successive Premier League matches. Only Everton’s James Tarkowski has made more Premier League appearances than the Londoner since the 2021/22 season.
But a hamstring tear means in the short-term at least, those sort of demands cannot be placed on the player. A return this week could be the start of a three-month period where Saka’s hamstring remains under constant scrutiny back at London Colney.
Arsenal Training Session
Saka spent the international break stepping up his return (Picture: Getty Images)
Smith continued: ‘Once they get him out there and he has played his first game or two, there will be a two-to-three month period where they are paying veery special attention to him across a number of different data points and metrics that will help Arsenal understand how he is transitioning back into normal performance management compared to an individual programme. So there’s lots to do still.
‘Every time he plays they [Arsenal’s medical staff] 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], getting back to the training centre to see how he responds. From there, they can give him a bit more exposure, get him back in again and see how he responds again and make sure everything looks okay. They will keep doing that until they feel he has built of a level of resilience and robustness so they can start putting the pieces together more frequently.’
Arsenal FC v Southampton FC - Premier League
Arsenal have missed their main man (Picture: Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
While Mikel Arteta won’t admit it yet, Arsenal’s title challenge appears to be over. That will inevitably create the temptation to limit Saka’s minutes in the Premier League to ensure he is kept safe for those huge Real Madrid games and the big European nights beyond that this season that could lie in wait.
While it is difficult to predict exactly how Arteta and his staff will plot Saka’s game time in the coming weeks, there is still a long road ahead.
‘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,’ Smith said.
‘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? These are questions Arteta and his staff will find the answers to.’
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