In the past two weeks, Arsenal has suffered several major setbacks that have delayed their Premier League matchup with Tottenham. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will host the most recent North London Derby, and in the lead-up to the game, Mikel Arteta must make a lot of important decisions.
Declan Rice was sent off in their most recent league match against Brighton and will serve a suspension as a result. That significant setback occurred just a few days after newly signed player Mikel Merino injured his shoulder while training, presumably delaying his debut until early November.
Since then, club captain Martin Odegaard has sustained an injury of his own that is predicted to at least prevent him from playing on Sunday, traveling to Atalanta for the Champions League, and facing Manchester City seven days later. It’s definitely time for some stars to step up to the plate, especially with so many important players out of the picture.
Arsenal’s talisman, Bukayo Saka, will be required once more for the next three games as Arteta is expected to assign him a completely different position. As attackers like Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard can potentially cover for absences in midfield, Raheem Sterling might also be needed sooner than anticipated.
Bukayo Saka will probably guide his boyhood club into battle against their biggest rivals, since former vice-captain Granit Xhaka is no longer with the team and skipper Martin Odegaard is set to be away.
If Odegaard is subbed off and Saka is still on, Saka normally gets the armband. However, Gabriel Jesus or Jorginho, if they start, could also assume that role.
