Football is back, Bukayo Saka is back

Morning.

After what seems like a very long time, football is back as we take on Fulham tonight at the Emirates. The big news in terms of the team is the availability of Bukayo Saka who is ‘ready to go!’, according to Mikel Arteta. It was December 21st when he picked up that injury away at Crystal Palace, it’s April 1st now so that’s quite the absence, but how good it is to see him back.

Arteta hinted he was in contention to start tonight, but I’d be very surprised to see that. I think you have to respect a big injury and surgery like this one, and reintegrate a player with some measure of caution. That’s kind of how we’ve done it with Ben White since his knee operation, so I imagine it will be similar with Saka, although his ability to produce game-changing moments is – with all due respect to our brilliant right-back – something we’ve really, really missed.

Asked how carefully his return needs to be managed, the manager said:

Well, all the careful things he’s already done. So now it’s about putting him on the grass in the right moments. But he’s pushing because he really wants it. We have respected the timeframe, we have done everything and we have had to hold him back even. So he’s ready to go.

There are options for the right-hand side this evening. Ethan Nwaneri could start, and I’ve written before about how I think he and Saka can work in tandem for the rest of this season to ease their respective burdens, while Gabriel Martinelli is also an option. That leaves Saka with a place on the bench, but that’s all right with me. I think we can all picture that second half scenario when the board goes up, his number flashes on it, and that welcome-back cheer reverberates around the stadium. I think that’s a moment he deserves, and I hope when it happens the game is already in good shape from our perspective.

Other than that I don’t see too much different from the team. With players back we may or may not continue with Mikel Merino as centre-forward. I think it’s more likely than not tonight, but we’re reaching a point where we can play three natural attacking players in the front three, and that’s the way I think we should go when possible. I reckon we might also see the aforementioned Ben White start. Jurrien Timber has been ‘badly’ ill over the Interlull, according to Arteta, and White needs minutes. I think we’ll see a timeshare situation with those two over the next couple of games, leaving Timber ready but not exhausted for that first leg against Real Madrid.

As for today’s opposition, they’re a team who have caused us some problems in our last few encounters. Sometimes it happens that way, but it’s a little hurdle we need to get over. We found it hard to break them down at Craven Cottage, but I don’t think you can say they’re a side who deliberately sit in a low block, and I don’t expect that from them this evening either. However, the way we played in that 1-1 back in December forced them into that shape, and we struggled to break them down – although it was a marginal offside that denied us a late winner.

The former Arsenal connection is strong too, with Bernd Leno, Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi in their squad, but even if the Premier League isn’t as important as it should be at this point of the season, this is a game we need to go out and win. Not simply for consolidating our position and ensuring the right kind of European football for next season, but to build just a little bit of momentum ahead of those games against Real Madrid.

So, let’s hope we’re in good shape after the Interlull. We shouldn’t be at all tired because all the players who were away have had at least a week between games, and against a team who played on Saturday, that extra energy could be the difference maker. For more on the game, and the other Premier League fixtures this week, check out our preview podcast on Patreon.

There’s also a brand new Arsecast Extra for you below, heavy on the official appointment of our new Sporting Director, and we’ll also have an Arsenal Women Arsecast for you a bit later this morning. For a bit of extra reading, I realised that our planned April Fool’s story wouldn’t actually fool too many people, so we leaned hard into absurdity – you might like it.

So, let’s leave it there for now. Join us later for live blog coverage, plus you’ll get the match report, goal clips, reaction, player ratings and much more over on Arseblog News.

Come on you reds!