Arsenal news: Mikel Arteta told to make risky change as he delivers Bukayo Saka update

· Mirror

Mikel Arteta has been told to make a significant change to his Arsenal starting XI

Arsenal return to Premier League action this Saturday afternoon when they face Everton at home. The Gunners will be hoping to secure all three points as they look to close the gap on league leaders Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta’s side are coming off the back of a tough 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest last weekend, having made hard work of their recent league encounters. That was followed by an impressive display away at Bayern Munich in the Champions League in midweek, where the English and German champions had to settle for a point apiece.

But, despite coming away from the game with plenty of positives, Arteta had to deal with a fresh injury blow and a new dilemma regarding how to get the best out of Viktor Gyokeres, who set up Declan Rice’s late equaliser after coming on as a substitute.

Now, Mirror Football brings you two of the latest stories involving the north London club.

Arteta told to make change

Former Arsenal midfielder Anders Limpar has suggested that Arteta should change his formation if he wants to get the best out of Gyokeres. The Spaniard usually deploys a single striker in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation in possession, very rarely fielding two strikers at the same time unless his side are in urgent need of a goal.

Gyokeres, who arrived in the summer of 2025, scored 21 goals for the Gunners last season. But the Swede often looked isolated and ineffective up top on his own, with his limitations in the lone striker role seeing him fall behind Kai Havertz in the pecking order this term.

But Gyokeres' compatriot Limpar, who mentored him during his formative years at Brommapojkarna in Sweden, has encouraged the Arsenal boss to deploy a two-striker formation to make the most out of his attacking options. Gyokeres usually plays alongside Liverpool’s Alexander Isak for his country and has scored 10 goals in 11 international games this year.

> "When I see Viktor playing for Sweden, he is much better because he’s playing with two up front, and he was brought up in the Swedish system, playing with two forwards," the former Gunners winger told Betarades. "Playing up front on his own is hard for him because it’s not his game to be a target player.

> "He is good going forward, chasing the ball, and he’s a threat on counterattacks, so he needs a player who is a really good target so he can play off them. At the moment, you can see that he’s struggling a little bit when it comes to receiving the ball, to pass the ball around.

> "It might be nerves, or that he’s not comfortable coming off the bench. But you should never ever go out in the press saying that you want to leave or that you want to play every game.

> "That’s not good for Arteta, that’s not good for him, and that’s not good for the club. I’m pretty sure that all the Arsenal players are squad players."

> Limpar added: "If you ask me if I want him to play, then yes, I think he should play as a starter. I think he should be a starter, especially now when Kai has struggled a little bit in the last couple of games, but we have to wait and see who is playing the next game."

Bukayo Saka injury update

Arteta provided an update on Bukayo Saka after Wednesday night’s game, expressing concern over the severity of his recent injury. The Gunners talisman was taken off after just nine minutes against Bayern, having gone to ground holding his leg in discomfort after playing a pass.

He was replaced by Eberechi Eze, who scored just 15 minutes later. But Arsenal fans will be disheartened by the immediate prognosis for the 25-year-old, revealed by Arteta after the match.

> "[The medical staff] are a bit concerned," Arteta told TNT Sports. "A player that has to come off with a really sharp pain is never good news. But we have to wait and see. It does not look good at all. It's his quad."

Saka started all seven of Arsenal's Premier League fixtures this season but has suffered several injury absences over the past two years. He missed 15 matches for Arsenal and England last season with various injury issues. In 2024/25, Saka missed 25 games across a total period of more than three months due to a hamstring injury.

Read the original

People in this story

Related