Mikel Arteta defends Arsenal over Bukayo Saka’s recent England withdrawal

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hit back at accusations that Bukayo Saka’s injury withdrawal from the England squad earlier may not have been genuine.

Saka was among eight England players who pulled out of Lee Carsley’s last selection for recent games against Greece and Republic of Ireland. That number eventually grew to nine.

But after a period of rest and recovery, the winger was the star player as Arsenal roared back to winning ways when Premier League football resumed with the visit of Nottingham Forest. Saka score a stunning opener, before laying on the second for Thomas Partey and being an all-round threat.

In light of that performance relatively soon after Saka was deemed not fit enough to report for international duty, Arteta was pressed by a reporter on the injury that had ruled him out.

“We can send the MRI scan, very simple,” the Arsenal boss responded. “But that’s a communication that was very clear between the medical staff of Arsenal and the national team. He hasn’t done anything. He was away and he needed time to heal. He’s done one training session.”

Saka was injured before the international break / Ryan Pierse/GettyImages

This was not the first time that Arteta has been accused of lying about Saka’s fitness – criticism fuelled when Oleksandr Zinchenko revealed the boss is happy to play mind games over injury doubts.

The mass withdrawal of players from the England was heavily criticised, with incoming manager Thomas Tuchel even bizarrely attributed blame from some quarters.

Three Lions captain Harry Kane was among the voices questioning so many players pulling out.

“[Gareth] Southgate brought the joy to play for England back,” said Kane. “Every camp people were excited to come, every camp people wanted to play for England and that’s the most important thing.

“I think England comes before anything. England comes before club, it is the most important thing as a professional footballer. Gareth was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if that started to drift from certain players.”

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