Saka went down clutching his leg eight minutes into the 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich, and Eberechi Eze replaced him straight away. He was later seen limping back to the team bus, and Arteta didn't try to dress any of it up. A player who can't walk off without pain gives you "no good signs", he said, before promising "We will know more tomorrow," which puts the answer some time today. The worry is that this runs to months at the worst end, and the manager sounded pessimistic. Eight weeks is believable for a muscle with so much fluid around it that the damage is hard to read, so the second scan matters more than any number doing the rounds.

Arteta was also asked whether Saka, 25, is heading for burnout. "I don't have that feeling at all," he said, although he admitted Saka had been "different in the last year or so" and pointed at a calendar where the times between games are getting narrower. I read his line about understanding what Saka can sustain when he comes back as a club planning to manage his minutes, and that's the right instinct for a player Arsenal lean on this heavily.

The short-term problem is that Christos Tzolis is already out with a hamstring injury, so Arteta is thin out wide. Eze looks set to stay on the left against Everton at 3pm, which lets Noni Madueke play on the right, where he moved after the reshuffle in Munich. Arteta noted Arsenal have "three games in six days".

Saka's absence is the reason Max Dowman took up so much of Arteta's press conference before Everton. The 16-year-old has had just 10 Premier League minutes this season, and Arteta's answer was that Arsenal "just have to give him the right chances in the right moments". He scored twice in the 4-2 League Cup win at Ipswich Town in September. Arteta also called it unfair to expect a teenager on so few minutes to keep providing. The last time Everton came to the Emirates, in March, Dowman came off the bench to help set up a late opener before scoring in added time to become the Premier League's youngest scorer. Next week's League Cup trip to Fleetwood Town looks the likelier place for him to start.

For Arsenal Women, the north London derby kicks off at 12:45 today at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and a side sitting eighth with one win from six league games badly needs to win it. Renée Slegers pointed out that Arsenal still concede the fewest chances in the league, but she admitted that when opponents do break through "it goes fast". Her verdict was blunt: "It can be and it must be better." Arsenal have almost doubled their crosses into the box this season, and Slegers put that down to chasing a goal in almost every game. That explanation worries me more than the defending, because a team forever chasing leaves the gaps for Tottenham's Shekeira Martinez and Kirsty Hanson to run into on the break.

Mikel Arteta's options out wide look like Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Max Dowman, which is plenty of depth when his best winger is missing. Eze has the strongest case because he came on for Saka in Munich and scored the opener on 25 minutes from Martin Ødegaard's pass. Madueke won the game at Nottingham Forest with an 80th-minute goal on 18 October, so he isn't short of form either. Everton tomorrow starts a run of five games in 15 days, and Liverpool at Anfield on 1 November is the one where Saka's absence would hurt most.

Losing him took some of the gloss off a point that Declan Rice's late equaliser rescued. The draw on 21 October was Arsenal's ninth straight away game in the Champions League without defeat, the longest run in the club's history in the competition. It leaves them seventh in the league phase on seven points.

Bruno Guimarães, who shared that midfield with Rice in Munich, has admitted that leaving Newcastle cost him nights awake and plenty of tears at St James' Park. He sounds settled now, because he called Rice "an unbelievable player, unbelievable guy" who has helped him since his first day. He played more as a 6 in Munich with Rice more as an 8, and he said the manager is still working out the best version of the pair. If their positioning really was the problem in the 3-0 defeat at Brighton on 19 September, a clear split between the two roles is the obvious fix, and Munich made a decent case for it.

In the academy, substitute Emerson Nwaneri's stoppage-time equaliser earned David Horseman's U19s a 3-3 draw with Bayern Munich, which leaves them 18th in the Youth League before a trip to leaders Slavia Prague.

Eberechi Eze had put Arsenal ahead on 25 minutes, running on to Martin Odegaard's ball over the top and drilling it low past Neuer. He was given offside at first, but VAR overturned the call. Bayern levelled ten minutes later because Kane dropped deep and slipped in Alphonso Davies, who curled his shot past Raya. Eze was only on because Bukayo Saka had gone down clutching his thigh, and he replaced him after eight or ten minutes depending on the account, playing on the left.

Kane had a hand in both of Bayern's goals, so coming back after his penalty is the strongest support for Mikel Arteta's view that this was "one of the highest levels that we played". Arsenal didn't just hang on. They went behind in Munich and found the goal to answer it. After the matchday-three games on 21 October, Arsenal are seventh in the league phase on seven points and still unbeaten.

David Raya was a Real Madrid fan as a boy and his Arsenal deal runs for another two years, so his admission that he "would love" a move to La Liga is an unhelpful one for the club.

The bigger worry from Munich is Saka's left quad injury. Arteta said Saka felt a "really sharp pain" and that the medical team were "a bit concerned", but his verdict that the injury "does not look good at all" matters most because it goes well beyond concern. A manager who talks like that sounds braced for a long absence. Eze's goal in Munich at least makes him the obvious option if Saka misses Everton's visit to the Emirates on 24 October.

David Raya's answer comes in two wordings, because by one account he doesn't care if rival supporters call Arsenal boring and by another he doesn't know what to say when people do. His 19 clean sheets in the 2025-26 Premier League season matched the club record, so he owes nobody an apology for how Arsenal defend. Ten wins from 11 in all competitions is the better reply, though Arteta admitted after Sunday's 1-0 win at Forest that his players had to be better in attack.

Bayern have worries of their own. Michael Olise is suspended after his red card against Bodo/Glimt. Vincent Kompany has a virus that's hit his legs, so it's unclear whether he'll be in the dugout. A weakened home side gives Arteta the chance to show he meant it.

Piero Hincapie is back on the grass at London Colney after hurting his ankle in the warm-down after the Leeds win, though not yet in full sessions. Tonight looks too soon, so Everton on Saturday is the realistic target. Kepa Arrizabalaga, who sat out Forest with Illan Meslier deputising on the bench, is fit. Christos Tzolis remains out with a hamstring problem. William Saliba hopes to be back next month from his long-running back problem.

Konsa made sure of it deep into stoppage time, chasing down Forest's Liam Delap and sliding in to block his shot at Raya's near post. He only joined from Aston Villa on 21 August 2026, and nine appearances in he's already making the block that keeps a win intact. It was Arsenal's 13th 1-0 win in 366 days. Jurrien Timber made his 100th Arsenal appearance in the same game.

Arsenal face a different test at Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, where Arteta expects "96 minutes of man-to-man". Kick-off at the Allianz Arena on 21 October is 8pm UK time. A man-to-man game asks defenders to win their own duels all over the pitch rather than deal with balls dropping into the box, and Konsa's stoppage-time chase suggests he's suited to it.

Madueke isn't the only Arsenal player doing his work as a substitute: Mikel Merino has come on in all seven of his Premier League appearances this season, so Arteta clearly leans on his bench.

Arsenal's December league fixtures are now fixed after four more games were picked for live television, and four Premier League games in the month have been rearranged. The north London derby away on Sunday 6 December and the home game against Manchester United on Sunday 20 December both kick off at 4.30pm. Brentford away stays on Wednesday 2 December but now starts at 8.15pm. Real Madrid come to the Emirates in the Champions League on Wednesday 9 December, and Bournemouth visit on Sunday 13 December at 2pm. The League Cup's fifth round falls in the week of 14 December. Once Real Madrid and a possible cup tie are added to the league games, Arsenal could be playing up to eight times in the month, which is when the whole squad rather than the first eleven gets judged. The month closes with Crystal Palace away on Sunday 27 December at 7pm and Fulham away on Wednesday 30 December at 7.30pm.

The 1-0 win keeps Arsenal close behind Manchester City at the top and drops Nottingham Forest into the bottom three. Mikel Arteta said Arsenal had done "something that we didn't do in the last two seasons" at the ground, "which is to win the game". A win that scrappy still matters because it ends that wait. Arteta's triple change with 25 minutes left brought on Jurrien Timber, Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyokeres for Ben White, Bruno Guimarães and Kai Havertz. But the half-time switch was the one that decided the game.

It could easily have finished level, because Forest had their chances late on. Declan Rice blocked a shot from Chris Wood, and Murillo's right-footed strike flew inches over the bar. One shot on target is a thin return for the champions, but Madueke turned that single chance into the goal that took the points.

In the academy, Mylo Bernard got both goals in the Under-18s' 2-1 home win over Tottenham, the second coming seven minutes into added time just a month after his move was completed.

Birmingham's manager, Amy Merricks, said afterwards that she had moved Oceane Hurtré from the left wing to the right to go at Arsenal's left side. On 53 minutes Hurtré ran on to a long pass inside from Herron and dinked it over Misa. "That's the one player we needed to stop and we didn't in that moment. And then we end up in a scenario again where we have to chase it," Renee Slegers said. Olivia Smith, recalled on the left wing, levelled in the 66th minute when Stanway found her wide and she beat Baggaley from the edge of the area.

Arsenal finished with 27 shots and four on target, and that gap says more about this side than the point does, because a team that can't find a way through a packed defence ends up shooting from wherever it can. Their only league win came at Brighton on 6 September, and they're eighth on six points after Saturday. Slegers made four changes from the defeat at Manchester City, some of them forced by Mariona's absence and Kim Little's illness. Asked about her future, she said she still believes she can "impact and help the team forwards", but that a change would need to happen if that stopped being true. A manager doesn't usually say that out loud, so Tottenham away on 24 October carries more weight than it should this early in a season.

Nothing from Gyokeres or the club backs up the Sunday papers' story that he's keen to leave, so it changes nothing about Arsenal's attack for now.

Arsenal's under-18s beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in their north London derby.

Mikel Arteta takes his side to Nottingham Forest this afternoon, and beforehand he explained why Ezri Konsa was signed. Arsenal knew how bad William Saliba's injury was, Arteta said, and that it was "the second one in a really similar area", so with no clear return date they wanted a senior defender who could perform straight away. Konsa has brought "composure and calmness" despite arriving from Aston Villa without a pre-season, and that's the case for the deal, because a side unsure when its first-choice centre-back will be back can't wait months for a replacement to settle. Arteta said Noni Madueke is comfortable on the left and will get more minutes in the next few games, a stretch that includes Bayern Munich away on 21 October.

All of Zubimendi's Premier League appearances this season have come off the bench, but Bayern Munich away follows straight after Forest, so Arteta needs every fit midfielder.

Piero Hincapié hurt his ankle in the same session and will need "probably another week or two", so he misses Forest. Christos Tzolis had another MRI on Thursday on the hamstring he hurt with Greece. William Saliba, still recovering from a long-standing back problem, is the only other absentee.

Tzolis came back from international duty injured, but Viktor Gyokeres came back having scored in four consecutive Nations League games for Sweden. A month ago Arteta had backed him to use the break as a springboard. His goalless run for Arsenal reached 13 matches against Lille, though Arteta said he'd been "in front of goal with no keeper" three or four times "and the ball should arrive to him, and it doesn't." The Sweden goals show the finishing hasn't gone, so the service is what Arsenal need to fix.

Jurrien Timber scored against Lille and was man of the match. If he plays on Sunday, it'll be his 100th Arsenal appearance, more than three years after he joined from Ajax in 2023. Injuries explain the wait, since he's sat out upwards of 80 games. His Premier League debut came against Forest on 12 August 2023 and ended with a cruciate ligament tear, which makes them a fitting opponent for the milestone. "When he's physically at his best, he's an unbelievable player," Arteta said.

Arteta defended the decision to cut 60 jobs, or up to 60 by another account, saying he'd been told it was needed to "achieve the success we want to create".

Saliba missed this week's team photo because of a medical appointment, and Arteta says it will be taken again with him in it.

Georgia Stanway joined in the summer to a midfield Renee Slegers had built around Mariona and Kim Little, and she told Arseblog News she "never" wants to "change something that has been working". In the three games before the break she played higher than at the start of the season, because Kyra Cooney-Cross sat deeper behind her. She scored her first Arsenal goal in the 2-2 draw with Paris FC, then scored in both of England's games during the break. A side 10th in the WSL after five games needs a midfielder getting into the box, and Birmingham City visit the Emirates at 12:45 today.

Selina Cerci's signing from Hoffenheim was announced on 6 July, and by 4 October she'd made three league appearances off the bench without a start. Slegers said a knee problem was one reason she'd struggled to work her way into the side after missing parts of pre-season, even though she'd trained with the group for most sessions. In the end, Slegers said, "it became too much and with Germany they did a scan and the best solution going forward was to clean it up."

Geraldine Reuteler is the better news. She needed a small intervention to get fit and missed some weeks of pre-season, but Slegers said she's looking good and training well. Slegers admitted she'd sometimes picked others ahead of her while bedding in new signings and chasing consistency. With Mariona out, that reasoning is harder to hold to, and Reuteler should be the first to benefit.

Bruno Guimarães making Mikel Arteta's midfield picks harder before the trip to Nottingham Forest on 18 October is easy to believe, given his two Premier League goals since his £75m move from Newcastle.

Lille beat Arsenal's Under-19s 3-2.

Olivia Smith hasn't started for Arsenal since 19 September, though she's come off the bench in each of the last four games. Slegers said Smith had been managing physical issues in the background but is "pain-free now". She showed it with Canada during the break, scoring in her 45 minutes against Denmark and again in the second game of the double header. Slegers described what's ahead as "a block of six weeks and nine games". A run that crowded, without Mariona, needs Smith starting rather than coming off the bench.

The plans seem to grow out of an efficiency drive that followed a BCG audit, so this is a choice made from strength rather than one forced by a crisis. The wage bill was £346.8m in the results to May 2025, and operating costs hit £200m last year after climbing £126.7m over three years. In 2020 Arsenal made 55 staff redundant after Covid, months after first-team players and coaches had accepted a temporary 12.5% pay cut. That came in a pandemic, but this comes after a first title in 22 years and a £20m new deal for the manager, which is a far harder sequence to justify to anyone being let go.

The same week took away a man who began in Arsenal's box office. Ken Friar has died aged 92, after nine decades at the club that carried him up to the boardroom as club secretary and managing director. He was central to leaving Highbury for the Emirates, a project he shared with his friend and fellow director Danny Fiszman. The crowd stood to applaud him before the Lille game. Mikel Arteta said he'd had "the privilege, the honour" of learning from him. "Ken Friar was Mr Arsenal," said Charlie George. A fuller tribute is planned for the Everton game on 24 October.

Arsenal Women's Champions League trip to Barcelona has moved back a day because of a general strike in Spain. The strike was called after the fixtures were set and would have left the game short of staff and transport. It's now at Camp Nou on Thursday 12 November, kicking off at 5.45pm UK time. Barcelona put forward Tuesday 10 November, but Arsenal's trip to Liverpool on 8 November ruled that out. Saying no to the Tuesday was right for the players, though supporters who'd already booked to travel for the Wednesday are likely to face extra cost and disruption.

Arsenal's under-19s lost 3-2 at home to Lille in the UEFA Youth League despite goals from defenders Josh Ogunnaike and Elijah Upson.

The first team handled Lille rather better, and Arteta's account afterwards adds something to Bukayo Saka's part in the 3-0 win. On Monday Arteta had said his attackers should aim "to score two or three per game". Later he tracked Saka down mid-massage to tell him, "Bukayo, I just killed you in the press conference." Illness meant Saka wasn't ready to start, but within moments of coming on he'd set up Eberechi Eze, and four minutes later he scored. That's four goals and an assist from nine appearances this season. The illness matters more than the joke, because a winger who wasn't fit to start and still made one goal and scored another is the best reply Arteta could have hoped for.