Will Bukayo Saka start for Arsenal tonight against Fulham after injury? | OneFootball

Star man is back in contention after three months out

In from the off: Bukayo Saka

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Gunners manager Mikel Arteta was surprisingly forthcoming on Monday when asked how Saka's fitness was ahead of tonight's visit of Fulham in the Premier League.

"Bukayo is ready to go," Arteta declared at his pre-game press conference. "All the careful things he’s already done, now it’s about putting him in the grass in the right moments.

Saka is expected to be in the squad tonight, but how many minutes will he get?

We have predicted that Saka will start

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Will Bukayo Saka start tonight?

Saka has not played since December, and has undergone surgery in that time. With a Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid to come next week, there will surely be a concern over throwing him in too quickly and risking another injury.

Not so, according to Arteta. In the embargoed section of his press conference, Arteta revealed that Saka has played a behind-closed-doors friendly and has come through six training sessions with the squad. He also added that Saka "needs" the proper matchday experience after so long on the sidelines.

"We played once [a friendly], but before that [Saka] had six consecutive sessions with the team, and he was good," Arteta said.

"We played that game, he felt completely fine. So that's why I'm sure that we have managed to replicate almost every scenario [he could face]. At the end you need that, a 60,000 stadium, a different competitive level, a referee and play that game."

READ MORE: Standard Sport’s predicted Arsenal XI as Saka starts

Arsenal are also in action on Saturday, with a trip to face Everton in the lunchtime kick-off, before welcoming Madrid to the Emirates Stadium three days later.

Saka could start tonight, play 60 minutes, and then come off the bench on Saturday. Or have a second-half run out against Fulham before starting against Everton three days before the quarter-final first leg. He could also sit out tonight’s game entirely, though that seems the least plausible option given Arteta’s pre-match comments.

Asked if he is fearful of Saka re-injuring, Arteta was again confident in his reply. "No, because he has done everything many times already," he said. "He needs exposure in games but all the boxes he has to tick are there.

Bukayo Saka is expected to be in the squad

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

"He has been really good in the process and we have got a lot of reassurance that he can do very well now."

Arteta was also pushed on whether he thinks Saka will be rusty and was even more emphatic with his thoughts and detailed what he told the player.

"Get that out of your head," he said. "You haven’t played for three months but you’ve played for the last 48 months, so three in 48 is a very small percentage.

"I haven’t done maybe the housekeeping duties for a week but I’ve done them for 10 years, so I know what to do, I know how to sustain it and I’m clever enough to maintain that. The habit is certainly there, so don’t think about that."