Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Bukayo Saka is in "contention" to face Manchester City in Sunday's highly-anticipated Premier League clash.
The 22-year-old has featured in a club-record 87 consecutive Premier League games for the Gunners, despite picking up knocks against Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth in recent weeks.
Saka nevertheless held his starting berth on the right flank for Tuesday's Champions League clash with Lens, where he played in Gabriel Jesus to open the scoring at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
In doing so, Saka became the first player in Europe's top five leagues to register at least five goals and five assists in 2023-24, but his evening was then cut short due to a hamstring injury, as Fabio Vieira replaced his stricken teammate just after the half-hour mark.
Following Saka's withdrawal, Lens turned the game on its head to condemn a lacklustre Arsenal side to their first defeat of the season, and Arteta's decision to continue with Saka in the starting XI was widely criticised.
The England international has undergone scans this week, but he has nevertheless been called up to Gareth Southgate's Three Lions squad for October's fixtures with Australia and Italy.
Southgate said that Saka was still being assessed after naming his squad on Thursday, and speaking to the press at his pre-game media conference, Arteta insisted that the Hale End graduate was in with a chance of being fit for the game.
"He's in contention, let's see how he progresses from here to Sunday. He had to leave the pitch, that's never good news, but let's see how that recovers," Arteta said, before stating that he would leave it to the doctors to explain the nature of his injury.
Pressed on Saka's availability towards the end of his press conference, Arteta refused to go into more detail about the attacker's issue and insists that he trusts Southgate to make the right decision over his minutes during the international break.
"In contention! That's it, I'm not a doctor, that's what they told me," Arteta said with a wry smile. "I have spoken to Gareth on several occasions, but I have to do my job.
"I give him the news and where everybody is at, we have really good communication and he needs to make the best decision for the national team, I'm not going to get involved there."
Alongside Saka, Arteta also revealed that Thomas Partey could be involved against Man City, having battled back from a groin injury to make the bench in Tuesday's loss to Lens.
"He is ahead of schedule that's for sure. We wanted to have him in the squad [against Lens] if we needed to. The way the game panned out we didn't use him. But he's good," Arteta added.
However, Jurrien Timber is definitely out with his serious knee injury, while Gabriel Martinelli is unlikely to be involved due to the hamstring problem he sustained against Everton last month.
Arsenal sit third in the Premier League table after seven games and will go top of the rankings if they overcome Man City and Tottenham Hotspur fail to beat Luton Town on Saturday lunchtime. body check tags ::
