Arsenal news: Bukayo Saka injury latest as Roy Keane slams Gunners star

Arsenal are back in Premier League action on Saturday, hosting Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners are in desperate need of three points, having gone four league matches without tasting victory before the international break. Mikel Arteta’s side have lost to Bournemouth and Newcastle and drawn with Liverpool and Chelsea during a frustrating period.

Arsenal need to put an end to that this weekend, but know Forest won’t be pushovers. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have been the surprise package of the season so far and have the exact same record of the Gunners after 11 league games.

“Their intentions are very clear, how they manage to take the games where they want,” Arteta said ahead of his 250th game in charge of Arsenal. “[I’ve been] really impressed to be fair with what they've done.” Here are the latest headlines on the club.

Arteta gives injury update

Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice should be fit to face Nottingham Forest after training well on Friday morning, but Ben White is facing an extended period on the sidelines.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arteta said: "[Leandro] Trossard seems to be OK, he trained this morning and seems to be feeling good. Bukayo and Declan have their first session today. Very good as well. Ben is going to be out for months, unfortunately.”

On White, he added: “It's been different kinds of struggles. It's never been the same thing. We had to make a decision. It's not been improving in the last few weeks unfortunately.

Image: Michael Regan - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images) Michael Regan - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

"We know that Ben is going to push every boundary but it got to a point where we have to protect the player and we decided to do the surgery. He agreed with that and unfortunately that's going to keep him out for a few months.”

Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain unavailable, but Riccardo Calafiori will be back in the Arsenal squad: “His rehab has gone really well. He was able to do certain things last week with the physios. He trained on the pitch this week, he trained with us today as well.”

Keane unimpressed by Odegaard

Martin Odegaard made a full return to Arsenal before the international break, putting in a good performance in the 1-1 draw at Chelsea after a 14-match absence through injury. But his efforts didn’t earn applause from Roy Keane.

Both Ian Wright and Jill Scott lauded the Norwegian's resilience on The Overlap. "He needs plaudits for that because usually when you come back especially after an ankle injury, it's like 30 minutes your first game, then 60, he did well to get through 96 minutes," said Scott.

Keane sarcastically reacted: "It's his job, innit? Like a pilot you've got an eight-hour flight, 'oh I can only do six'... Jesus, 96 minutes? Praise the Lord."

Image: Getty Images) Getty Images)

Rosicky backed to replace Edu

Former Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky would be the best choice to replace Edu as Arsenal’s director of football, according to Arsenal legend Anders Limpar.

"I sat down with him and had a chat with him. He's an intelligent guy. He's very calm. He knows his football,” he told BonusCodeBet.co.uk.

Asked whether head of Arsenal’s academy, Per Mertesacker, could step up to take the role, Limpar added: "In my book, both of them are great candidates but my choice would be Tomas. He's a very nice guy and his knowledge of football is amazing. Very clever guy and he speaks perfect English. He should be suitable for the Arsenal job."

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