Arsenal receive Bukayo Saka injury boost after hamstring scare on England duty

Bukayo Saka will not be involved when England take on Finland in Helsinki on Sunday evening, but he could be fit enough to play for Arsenal against Bournemouth next weekend

Bukayo Saka could be fit for Arsenal’s match against Bournemouth on Saturday, despite withdrawing from the England squad through injury.

Saka has not travelled with the Three Lions to Helsinki for their Nations League match against Finland on Sunday. He was released back to Arsenal after being substituted in the second half of the 2-1 defeat by Greece at Wembley on Thursday.

The right-winger was dejected after appearing to pull his right hamstring while trying to put in a cross and was later seen walking gingerly out of the stadium. The problem was bad enough that interim England boss Lee Carsley didn’t want to risk him for the Finland game, but scans have revealed no significant injury.

“Bukayo would have been close but it would have been unfair to take a risk with him,” Carsley said ahead of the Finland game. “He’s a positive person and I expect him to be fine.”

Carsley had previously stated in the post-match press conference after the Greece game: “He’s being assessed. Obviously, in the build-up to the first goal, you could see he felt something in his leg.”

Saka was considered a doubt for Arsenal’s next match, away to Bournemouth on Saturday evening. But it seems their worst fears about the injury and a repeat of the Martin Odegaard blow from the last international break have passed.

The 23-year-old has been in superb form this season, contributing three goals and seven assists in 10 matches across all competitions for Arsenal. Nevertheless, the injury scare with England is likely to bring forward the debate over Saka’s workload, given he has started every available match this season for both club and country.

After starring with two assists and a goal in the 3-1 win over Southampton last weekend, Mikel Arteta was asked whether he was ever tempted to rest Saka. “Yeah, there is and we have taken him off a couple of times this season,” he replied. “And we have to manage the load of him, but at the moment he’s in a good place.”

With Saka out, England will turn to Harry Kane for inspiration in Helsinki after the Bayern Munich striker missed the defeat by Greece. Jack Grealish, who starred in Carsley’s first two matches in charge in September, is also fit and available.

“They both trained on Friday, they trained today, so in terms of their fitness everything’s fine,” Carsley said. “What does Harry bring to the team? Having watched the games that he’s played in and the influence that he has on the team, he leads by example, really good captain, great positive person to have around.

“We always have that when we’ve got something really good in front of us: we’re always looking for the next big thing. But I think we should appreciate what we’ve got in front of us with Harry. His goalscoring speaks for itself, what he’s done in the past should massively be respected and I think he’s still got a lot of games and goals in him, hopefully.”

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