As Arsenal beat Fulham at the Emirates, the narratives were dominated by a returning star but the happiness was short-lived as yet more injuries occurred for Mikel Arteta with Gabriel and Jurrien Timber limping off.
Though Arteta appeared happy in his post-match interviews, he will be made to wait to see how serious the injuries are to Timber and Gabriel and whether he will have the players available for the Champions League tie against Real Madrid.
Despite creating little in the first half, Arsenal were able to hold Fulham’s late rally off capped with a goal from Saka.
Here were five things we learnt from the game:
1) Saka’s return
You could say Bukayo Saka’s injury signalled the end of Arsenal’s title challenge.
In hindsight, Arsenal are made of strong stuff, tough physically with a miserly tactical nous. However, the injuries this season have proved to be a nightmare, so it’s a huge shot in the arm to have Saka return ahead of the game vs Real Madrid.
The entire stadium erupted with an extra decibel when they realised it was Saka who scored.
The problem for Arsenal of late has not been conceding goals, it’s scoring them. With Saka and Martinelli back in the fold, it will give them more hope coming up against a Real Madrid side that conceded four on the same night vs Real Sociedad.
2) Defensive Injury Crisis
Arteta will feel as though the Gunners have had an injury crisis the entire season and would’ve winced when Gabriel was limping and came off.
With a game to come vs Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, it’s hard to view this injury as anything but a disaster.
To make matters worse Timber who has been imperious all season after having been out for a long spell previously also pulled up.
Arsenal have a 64% win rate when Gabriel is in the team and 44% without him.
Though Arteta mentioned after the game that they’ve had to deal with injuries all season, it’s largely due to the shuffling and tinkering that they’re a less effective football team.
The fitness of Gabriel and Timber is a huge concern with Real Madrid 6 days away.
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta reveals meaning behind Bukayo Saka’s goal celebration on injury comeback
3) Another Mikel Merino Goal
The Mikel Merino experiment has yielded five goals in eight games for the Spaniard. He’s actually got a new lease of life since arriving as it wasn’t necessarily working out for him in central midfield in his debut season.
The Merino experiment clearly highlights Arsenal’s desperate need to sign strikers in the summer, but at the very least, his positioning and finishing in the role should be appreciated in a desperate time of need.
It’s highly unlikely Merino will play this role next season, but for what it’s worth we should appreciate his goal return nonetheless.
4) Ethan Nwaneri continues to impress
Before Saka was introduced Arsenal still found runs in behind Fulham tough, all but Ethan Nwaneri that is.
If Arteta can find a way to included Nwaneri and Saka into the team (perhaps by trying one up front) Arsenal will have excellent depth in wingers.
Nwaneri emerged due to all the absences from this season, but he’s making a claim to get more minutes for the 25/26 campaign.
His development has been a real plus point, his ability to run in behind, run at defences whilst having a great shot on him has made for an excellent addition in the squad.
5) Survive Goodison Park unscathed
It’s perhaps a little naive to place all the emphasis on the Champions League tie vs Real Madrid, Arsenal need to consolidate second.
But, just as the other teams in England who are still in Europe, the European competition matters a lot more than the league form.
The mantra for Arsenal for the remaining fixtures is to get a result and at this point hope that no other injuries occur whilst maintaining performance levels and giving Saka as any minutes as possible.
With the Everton game coming on Saturday lunch time, there couldn’t be more of an awkward fixture to play before welcoming the European Champions to the Emirates.
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