 Paul Merson has defended Mikel Arteta's decision to risk the fitness of Bukayo Saka ahead of Arsenal's must-win game at Bournemouth. The England international hobbled out of last week's north London derby during the closing stages and, according to his manager, had been unable to train ahead of Friday's session. Saka missed the midweek Carabao Cup win over Brentford but was deemed ready to start at the Vitality Stadium with the Gunners needing three points to keep up any semblance of pressure on Manchester City. Arsenal face the champions at the Emirates Stadium next Sunday after a midweek Champions League group stage match at Lens. Arteta is already dealing with something of an injury crisis and any setback suffered by Saka would represent a seismic blow to his hopes of keeping pace with City. But with Pep Guardiola's relentless winning machine having made a flawless start to the new campaign, Merson sympathised with Arteta's plight and believes he cannot afford to be without Saka, even against a side who had collected just three points from their opening six fixtures. 'Man City are putting so much pressure on, if they ended up drawing this, Arsenal want to try and win the league,' Merson told Sky Sports. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'But if they don't get a result today and draw and lose against Manchester City next week they're out the title race, it's finished.' Asked at his pre-match press conference how Saka had improved his durability in recent years, Arteta said: 'I think I talked about it over a year ago, it's his mentality. 'If you want to be the player that he wants to be, you need to have that mindset that you want to play every single minute. You prepare yourself to play every single minute at your best. 'Don't just be there but make a contribution to a team to win games and that's ch){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Paul Merson has defended Mikel Arteta’s decision to risk the fitness of Bukayo Saka ahead of Arsenal’s must-win game at Bournemouth.
The England international hobbled out of last week’s north London derby during the closing stages and, according to his manager, had been unable to train ahead of Friday’s session.
Saka missed the midweek Carabao Cup win over Brentford but was deemed ready to start at the Vitality Stadium with the Gunners needing three points to keep up any semblance of pressure on Manchester City.
Arsenal face the champions at the Emirates Stadium next Sunday after a midweek Champions League group stage match at Lens.