Bukayo Saka had looked to the turf, clutched his thigh and slowly ambled off once again on Tuesday night. It has become a familiar sight, a routine even.
Yet after Arsenal’s chastening defeat to Lens, Mikel Arteta spoke with concern. This was not just a ‘knock’. But a muscular issue, after a knock last weekend, and another the weekend before.
Arteta said: ‘He tried to backheel a ball in the first half and felt something muscular.
‘It was big enough not to allow him to continue to play the game and that’s a worry for us.