Why Bukayo Saka missed Bournemouth vs Arsenal as Mikel Arteta explains injury fears

Mikel Arteta has explained Bukayo Saka's absence from the squad for the Premier League clash against Bournemouth. The England international was spotted with the team at their hotel the day before the game, but was not included in the team to face the Cherries.

has been an incredibly important player for the over the last couple of years as Arteta's side have launched back-to-back title challenges, falling just shy of Manchester City on each occasion. The 23-year-old has carried that form into this season, scoring twice and creating another seven goals in seven Premier League games.

However, Saka picked up a hamstring issue while away with on international duty. It initially seemed a minor issue, with the Three Lions' interim boss Lee Carsley saying that he could possibly have featured in their second game of the break, but they were not keen to push him for the match.

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also stated in his press conference that he was hopeful that Saka would be back fit, and seemed positive about the chance of him making an appearance.

"It’s not a serious injury," Arteta said in his pre-match press conference. "He’s evolving really well. He’s done a few things in the last few days when he came back from the national team after the second game.

"We are hopeful. We have a training session this afternoon and he did some bits yesterday, so let’s see if he can make it on time."

However, there was an unwelcome surprise for Arsenal supporters ahead of the game when Saka was absent from the squad entirely. And Arteta explained why the young star was left out of the team.

“We tried the last few days," Arteta told Sky Sports. "We tried yesterday and he didn’t have the right feeling.

"If he feels like that then there’s no point pushing him."