Mikel Arteta has confirmed forward Bukayo Saka has with the attacker likely to be sidelined for at least a couple of months.

The England international pulled up during Arsenal's 5-1 victory over Crystal Palace last week. And speaking before Arsenal beat Ipswich on Friday night, Arteta admitted the problem was serious.

"It's not looking good," the Spaniard said. "He's going to be out for many weeks. I cannot be too specific because I don't know but it will be many weeks."

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Rumors had been circulating about the severity of Saka's problem with suggestions the 23-year-old had been operated on proving true. "He had a procedure," Arteta said. "Everything went well, but unfortunately he will be out for many, many weeks."

When pushed to provide a more detailed timeline Arteta admitted that Saka is unlikely to be back before March as a result of the surgery. "I said many weeks so I think it will be more than two months," he said. "I don't know exactly how much longer. It will depend on how the scar tissue starts to heal, the first week or so, the mobility of that. Let's see it's very difficult to say."

There was more positive news for Arsenal regarding former winger . The England international limped out of training last Friday with a knee injury, but Arteta admitted that he was hopeful that the issue was not as serious as first feared.

"We have to see this week how he evolves," he said. "We probably expected the knee injury to take longer than it has evolved in the last few days. Hopefully that's good news because we need him."

Liverpool.com says: Considering Arsenal is a team without loads of free-scoring attacking options, losing it's biggest goal threat for a sustained period is far from ideal. Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz will need to step up, while Gabriel Jesus has impressed recently but will need to keep that up. There's not much margin for error and the Saka setback will be a substantial one.