Arsenal have suffered a worrying Bukayo Saka injury setback just moments before kick-off against Leeds United. The 24-year-old was set to feature in the attacking trio but has been replaced by Noni Madueke after suffering an issue in the warm-up. The Gunners winger, who was due to captain his childhood club at Elland Road with Martin Odegaard named on the substitutes' bench, had been conducting his usual warm-up routine before being seen making his way down the tunnel accompanied by a physiotherapist.

Christian Norgaard has taken Madueke's place on the bench. It was subsequently announced that he had been withdrawn from the squad with Madueke now set to start on the right flank. Just when fitness problems for Mikel Arteta appeared to be easing, two medical concerns have surfaced. Alongside Saka, Mikel Merino has sustained a foot problem with Arteta providing an update on Saturday.

He stated: "He's got an issue in his foot. It's a bone that's giving him some pain, and we have some exams, we need some more specialists to look at it and to see how long he will be out."

Riccardo Calafiori, Cristhian Mosquera, Piero Hincapie have all made recent comebacks with the latter featuring in the starting eleven at left-back alongside Jurrien Timber on the right flank.

The major alteration has occurred in midfield with skipper Odegaard stepping aside for the returning Kai Havertz. The Germany international found the net and provided an assist during his 45-minute appearance against Kairat in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Arsenal have been carefully managing his workload since his return to the squad in late December, but he appears to have put any potential setbacks behind him. Arteta suggested as much during his press conference on Friday.

He said: "Yeah, he's ready, obviously he started the day, obviously it's been a long period and now we need to manage that load and the games that we're going to select for him to start, but there was no reaction to that.

"I think it was super positive, you could see straight away the impact that he can have in the team, so yeah, he's ready."

Arsenal fans will now nervously await updates on Saka on a potentially significant weekend in the Premier League title race. Rivals Manchester City face bogey team Tottenham away from home on Sunday with Arsenal having a chance to open up a seven-point gap over City today.