Bukayo Saka injury news: Arsenal star ruled out of Everton clash after Bayern Munich blow

Bukayo Saka in an England shirt
Photo: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Arsenal will be without Bukayo Saka for Saturday's Premier League match against Everton. The club confirmed in manager Mikel Arteta's pre-match press conference on Friday that the 25-year-old winger will miss the game at the Emirates Stadium after suffering a thigh injury in Wednesday's Champions League draw at Bayern Munich, and that further scans are still needed before anyone can say how long he will be out.

What happened at Bayern Munich

Saka lasted just 10 minutes of Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich on Wednesday. He went down after picking up the injury, was treated briefly on the pitch, and had to be helped off, with Eberechi Eze coming on in his place. The change worked on the night: Eze scored Arsenal's opening goal, and Declan Rice struck a late equaliser in the 82nd minute to rescue a point. But the sight of Saka leaving the field so early, and struggling to walk, was the worrying part of an otherwise encouraging European result for the Gunners.

Arteta made no attempt to play down the concern immediately after the match in Munich, and his update on Friday was in the same vein. The injury is to Saka's thigh, and the club is still working out exactly how serious it is. That uncertainty is the key point of this story: Arsenal have confirmed the player, the injury and the immediate consequence — he misses Everton — but they have not yet confirmed a timescale for his return.

What Arteta said

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, Arteta confirmed in an official club briefing that Saka will miss Saturday's match against Everton and will undergo further tests on the thigh injury. He explained that Saka was due for another MRI on Friday afternoon because there was a lot of fluid in the area, which made it difficult to judge the severity of the injury, adding that the club expected to know more the following day.

Arteta also said the club needed a few more scans and opinions from specialists before giving a definitive assessment. His description of the moment itself explained why Arsenal are being cautious: when a player has to walk off the pitch, is struggling to walk without pain and is restricted in his movement, he said, those are not good signs. The message was patience — wait for the scans, rather than guess at a date.

Arteta also used the press conference to raise the wider workload issue, pointing out that Arsenal were playing three times in less than six days and that the games at this level are extremely demanding. It was a familiar complaint from managers in a congested calendar, but it landed with extra force given that Saka, one of Arsenal's most important attacking players, had just been added to the treatment room.

What it means for Arsenal against Everton

The immediate effect is straightforward: Arsenal host Everton on Saturday afternoon, 24 October 2026, kick-off 14:00 UTC, without their first-choice right winger. Arsenal go into the weekend second in the Premier League, three points behind leaders Manchester City, having won all three home league matches so far. Everton arrive eighth, with just one defeat from seven — not a fixture Arsenal can take lightly, even at home.

Arteta does have ready-made cover on the flanks. Eze, who replaced Saka in Munich and scored, is the most obvious option to start, while Noni Madueke — who scored the winner at Nottingham Forest last weekend — is another. Piero Hincapié is back in contention after recovering from an ankle injury, which at least gives Arteta one returning player to balance the loss. William Saliba remains sidelined with a back injury, so Saka is not the only senior absence, but he is the freshest and most damaging one. Follow the team news, score and lineups on the Arsenal vs Everton match page.

What happens next — and what is not yet known

After Everton, Arsenal's next match is a trip to fourth-tier Fleetwood Town in the League Cup fourth round on Tuesday, and that game is covered on the Fleetwood Town vs Arsenal match page. Whether Saka is available for that tie, or for the league fixtures beyond it, is not something Arsenal have confirmed yet. The club has said only that further scans and specialist opinions are needed, and that a definitive assessment will follow.

That is why this article gives no return date for Saka. Supporters searching for one will find plenty of speculation elsewhere, but until Arsenal themselves put a timescale on the injury, any date would be a guess — and with a player of Saka's importance to Arsenal's title challenge, a guess is not good enough. What is confirmed is the injury, the missed Everton match, and the scans still to come. ScorePulse will update this story when the club gives its next official assessment.

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