It’s probably no coincidence that Arsenal’s faltering title challenge has coincided with Bukayo Saka’s three-month injury absence.
The Gunners and England winger underwent surgery on a hamstring issue that he suffered during Arsenal’s win over Crystal Palace in December and has been forced to watch his side’s last 12 Premier League games from the sidelines.
Arsenal are currently second in the Premier League table, but 12 points behind leaders Liverpool and the club have also crashed out of the FA Cup and Carabao Cup during Saka’s absence.
Is Bukayo Saka fit to face Fulham on Tuesday night?
With nine games to go in the Premier League and a Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid coming up, boss Mikel Arteta is in desperate need of attacking reinforcements, with attackers Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus both out for the rest of the season.
News on Saka’s injury comeback has therefore been eagerly awaited by Arsenal fans, who were delighted to see the 23-year-old return to training with the team during the international break.
And speaking ahead of Arsenal’s home clash against Fulham on Tuesday evening, Mikel Arteta revealed the news that every Gunners supporter wanted to hear.
"Bukayo Saka is ready to go," declared the Spaniard. "All the careful things are already done. Now it's about putting him on the grass at the right moment, but he's pushing because he really wants to.
"We have respected the timeline and we have done everything. Bukayo is a massive weapon that we have. We know the impact he has in the team and how important his role and contribution is to our success."
Saka’s return will give Arteta a much-needed boost going into the run-in. Saka - ranked at no.3 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best right-wingers in the world last month - had been enjoying a productive season before his lay-off, having netted nine times and laying on 14 assists in his 24 appearances across all competitions.
Arteta also confirmed that defender Riccardo Calafiori will miss time after he suffered a knee injury while on Italy duty, but the issue was not as bad as originally thought.
"Hopefully it's going to be a matter of weeks, but we have to see how the injury evolves."
