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In the autumn of 2023, a tongue-in-cheek meme did the rounds in Arsenal’s social media circles. It featured an iconic scene from ‘Diary Of A Wimpy Kid’, during which several children sing wildly out-of-key to Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’, before one boy nails it and steals the show right at the end as the song leaps into the chorus.
In this instance, the scene came with the caption of ‘Mikel Arteta trying to find a back-up for Bukayo Saka’. Plastered over the tone-deaf kids were the names of several Gunners wingers, including Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli. The angelic voice belonged to none other than Saka himself.
It’s hard to call right wing a problem position for Arsenal considering that’s where one of their biggest stars plays, though that creates the worry of trying to find a suitable deputy. Whether through internal solutions or in the transfer market, the Gunners have not been able to source someone who can take the load away from an overworked Saka, and that’s an even more concerning issue.
Arsenal’s chickens came home to roost on Saturday when Saka was forced off with a hamstring strain in the first half of their thumping of Crystal Palace, leaving Selhurst Park on crutches to the “worry” of Arteta. This was, however, a problem of their own making.