The 25-year-old England international was forced off just 10 minutes into Wednesday’s encounter, raising concerns over his fitness and availability for the coming weeks.
The reported setback is said to be his 11th injury since September 2024, following an extended period in which he also played through an Achilles problem during the World Cup.
However, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said the club was awaiting further medical assessments before confirming the full extent of the injury.
“He’s got an MRI this afternoon because he had quite a lot of fluid in the area, so it was difficult to understand the extent of the injury. But we’ll know more probably tomorrow,” Arteta said.
“We need a few more scans and opinions from the specialist. There are no good signs. So, again, let’s be very patient so we can give a definitive assessment.”
Arsenal are scheduled to face Everton on Saturday, with Saka expected to miss the Premier League fixture.
Arteta was also asked whether the increasing frequency of injuries among his players was becoming a concern.
“Well, it’s certainly been different in the last year or so,” he said.
The Spaniard pointed to the demands of modern football, citing the number of matches, their intensity, international competitions and limited recovery time between fixtures.
“And obviously the demands that we are putting on every player are immense, the amount of games, the intensity of those matches, the international competitions, the times as well between games are getting narrower,” he said.
Arteta highlighted Arsenal’s congested schedule, noting that the team had played on Sunday, faced Bayern Munich on Wednesday and were due to play again on Saturday.
“So look at us now. We had to play on Sunday afternoon, then we had to play on Wednesday evening, then we have to play on Saturday, so you go again less than 66 or 67 hours between games, on top of everything that we are putting on them,” he added.
Asked whether he feared Saka could suffer burnout, Arteta said he did not currently share that concern but acknowledged the importance of managing the winger’s workload carefully.
“I don’t have that feeling at all, but certainly what we have to be very mindful of is to create the right ecosystem around the player to fulfil all his qualities, and we really need to understand now, when he comes back, whenever that is, how we’re going to manage that load again,” he said.
Arsenal will await the results of further examinations before confirming Saka’s recovery timeline, with the reported six-to-eight-week absence yet to be officially established.
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