Arsenal and England dealt huge injury blow as Bukayo Saka limps out of Forest clash

In addition, Arteta will be sweating over the extent of Saka’s injury with a crunch clash with Chelsea in their London derby to negotiate next. Saka’s creativity and link-up with Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegard and Martinelli has been crucial to their flying start, which has seen them win nine of their 11 games this season.

The injury comes after the Spanish coach insisted he would do what he could to protect Saka as the World Cup approaches, although there is little Arteta could do to stop Saka from picking up a knock after some robust challenges from Forest players in the early stages of the game.

“Obviously we want to protect our players and when there is a risk of overload, and they can get into that frame where they get injured, then you don’t do it,” he said last week.

“But to protect our players also means they need to have the robustness to play those matches when it is necessary, and after the World Cup it’s going to be absolutely crazy with the amount of games we’re going to have. We need to be prepared for that.”