Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole have picked out Bukayo Saka as Arsenal’s key man against Real Madrid – but only if the forward is ‘fit and firing’ for the two-legged Champions League quarter-final.
Saka made his long-awaited return after three months out in Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Fulham on Tuesday night, coming on in the 66th minute to a standing ovation at the Emirates.
And it proved a dream night for Saka, with the 23-year-old winger heading home what turned out to be the winner just seven minutes after his introduction.
However, Arsenal’s defensive injury crisis worsened as Gabriel Magalhaes hobbled off early on in the 2-1 victory and the Brazilian defender has undergone scans to determine to whether he can feature in the club’s upcoming games.
While Saka may be eager to step up his recovery and get more minutes in his legs, Mikel Arteta will no doubt be tempted to wrap Saka in cotton wool ahead of a crucial period of the season both, domestically and in Europe.
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The Gunners first have a trip to Everton to contend this weekend and Saka’s role – whether as a starter or a substitute – is likely to be a hot topic of conversation heading into Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off at Goodison Park.
Just three days later, Arteta’s men play host to Madrid in the first leg of what promises to be an intriguing quarter-final contest with European champions Madrid – and Ferdinand believes Saka’s fitness will be a big determining factor across the two matches.
‘If Saka was a fit and firing Saka, I’d be looking at it and going: I think Arsenal have got a chance to nick this, clean sheet and nick it,’ the legendary ex-Manchester United and England defender said on TNT Sports’ The Breakdown.
‘But I don’t think they’ve got anything up front that is really going to affect the game in the way Saka could.’
Ferdinand added: ‘At this level, I don’t think you can be great one way and be one-dimensional, the way Arsenal are at the moment.
How Arsenal will manage Bukayo Saka’s return
Every time he plays they will be straight back at it at the training ground, testing his hamstring muscle strength, testing his biomechanics, testing his muscular endurance. They will be looking at getting him that exposure [back to first team football], come back in and see how he responds. Give him a bit more exposure, get him back in again and see how he responds and make sure everything looks okay. They will keep doing that until they feel he has built of a level of resilience ands robustness so they can start putting the pieces together more frequently. Arsenal have world class staff, they will have a very detailed and intricate plan and I am sure they will do a good job.
They’ll have some key markers to help them understand his hamstring functions, strength, its endurance, some of his biomechanics and movement capabilities. They will look at recovery as well and understand what he is able to do in a game, what type of distance he covers, how many accelerations, they will be comparing this to pre-injury and other athletes on the pitch to make sure he is at the same level or what they and Saka would expect.
Saka has had a lot of downtime which in some respects is great but ideally they would have wanted him with more football under his belt to come back in at the end of the season ready. Of course, a world class player coming back in can really help drive them towards the end of the finishing line but they also have a player who hasn’t had a lot of football. Even if the physical side of things is great, will he be match fit, will he be sharp. Can he just slot back in tactically and technically?
Stephen Smith, Kitman Labs Founder and CEO, was speaking exclusively to Metro.
Kitman Labs is the world’s leading performance intelligence and technology company, specialising in injury welfare and performance analytics working with the Premier League.
‘You can’t just rely on that, you need to still have a threat.
‘Atletico Madrid still have a threat when they go forward, like [Julian] Alvarez and [Antoine] Griezmann, but Arsenal haven’t got that type without Saka, especially, and other players that aren’t in form.
‘That’s my only concern for Arsenal going forward.’
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Cole was in agreement with his former England colleague, giving Arsenal ‘half a chance’ should Saka return to full strength in time for the eagerly anticipated tie.
‘Arsenal are equipped to beat them in the sense that they’re one of the best teams defensively left in the competition,’ Cole said.
‘And they’ve got set-pieces. I think they’re crucial.
‘If Saka’s fit, if he can give you 30 minutes and they can stay in the game, I think they’ve got half a chance. But you can’t look past Madrid.’
Ferdinand confidently backed Madrid to defend their title at the start of the campaign, with the La Liga giants looking to become European champions for a 16th time this season.
But the 2008 Champions League winner has changed his prediction after watching Paris Saint-Germain get the better of Liverpool in the previous round.
‘I think before a ball was kicked I would have said Real Madrid,’ Ferdinand explained.
‘But seeing these knockout games and the way that PSG played Liverpool, there was a big difference, I thought, between the teams, especially in the first game.
‘I’m going to go with PSG. it’s the first time I’ve looked at them seriously and gone: I really, genuinely think they’ve got the players and the team to beat anyone in this competition now so I’m going to go for them.’
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