There’s a maxim from the boot room era, coined by a famous former manager who would cast his eye across his squad at the start of a season and confide to his staff, ‘We’ll be fine as long as the right ones get injured’.
Injuries are inevitable in other words, but some players are indispensable.
Its relevance survives. Remove Rodri and Erling Haaland and Manchester City are not the same team. Remove Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool would not be either.
All managers quietly dread losing certain individuals and at Arsenal this season they will tell you the wrong ones got injured.
Start with Bukayo Saka, darling of the North Bank and one of the genuine world stars of English football even though his unassuming nature can disguise his value.
There is nothing for show about Saka. There was no wonderkid clamour around him as he emerged from the youth ranks. Arguably there was more excitement around Emile Smith Rowe, as there usually is around a beguiling playmaker.
The return of Bukayo Saka has given Arsenal the boost they needed at the end of the season
Saka and his team-mates are gearing up for Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final
But Saka is a star made for modern football. Quick and highly technical, he can go past defenders either side with a trick and a change of pace or link up passes, give and go, and cross with precision.
He works up and down the flank and makes sure he is attacking the back post when anything develops on the opposite wing. He is intelligent, follows instruction and behind the boyish smiles there is a fierce ambition.
Mikel Arteta discovered the best place from which to get his strengths into the game is the right wing because, as well as everything else, he can threaten the goal coming inside onto his left foot.
Few do it better. There are hints of Arjen Robben when he sets off burrowing infield in search of that shooting alley. Everyone knows what he is trying to do and still it’s so difficult to stop him finding a clean strike.
Saka’s goal contributions have increased accordingly. From seven goals and nine assists in all competitions in 2020/21, he had 12 and seven in 21/22, 15 and 12 in 22/23 to 20 and 17, last season.
This season, despite the long absence he has a healthy return of 11 goals and 14 assists.
In a sport increasingly obsessed by data, these figures and his tender age of 23, are the reasons transfermarkt.com rank him second only to Haaland in terms of ‘market value’ in the Premier League at a cool €150,000,000.
None of this will come as a surprise to Arsenal supporters.
Mikel Arteta’s (right) team saw their title challenge drift away in the absence of Saka
They have long known his true worth as illustrated by the astonishing ovation at the Emirates Stadium when he came off the bench against Fulham on his return from injury.
I’ve never seen emotion quite like it for a player on his comeback and I was there when Christian Eriksen returned from his cardiac arrest. I had to check Saka had only been out for three months with a hamstring.
Then he scored what proved to be the winning goal within five touches and seven minutes and celebrated with the little smile and shrug.
Still, I left North London convinced the key aspect of that night would prove to be an injury to centre-half Gabriel Magalhaes, ruling him out of the impending Champions League tie with Real Madrid and the rest of the season.
Arsenal fans didn’t seem to care quite so much. They had Saka back. That was the main thing. And, when he sank Real in the Bernabeu with another smile and another shrug, their point of view made more sense and mine less.
Arteta can reorganise and reinforce his defence in the absence of Gabriel, and though they do lose a little defensive security, there is no replacement for all that Saka brings.
Arsenal’s team is far better with him than without and yet there is another layer this season because before Arteta lost Saka for three months, he lost captain Martin Odegaard for two.
The team’s creative forces, who combine with almost telepathic understanding on the right side of the team.
Saka was greeted like a returning hero as he made his return against Fulham earlier this month
In this season’s Premier League with both Saka and Odegaard starting, Arsenal have averaged 2.36 goals per game, compared to 1.83 with one starting and 0.8 with neither starting. Shots on target and touches in the opposition box follow the same striking pattern.
Not rocket science, but enough to have a significant impact over the course of a disappointing league campaign. To inspire optimism as they prepare with both in the team to take on Paris Saint-Germain, conquerors of Liverpool and Aston Villa, in the Champions League. To remind us the wrong players got injured.
FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED THIS WEEK
1. Patience is a virtue after all. Eight games into this season and Crystal Palace were winless and 18th in the Premier League. A Dean Henderson error condemned them to defeat at Nottingham Forest on a Monday night in October. Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen had been sold, and Oliver Glasner asked the players what they thought was wrong.
They decided nothing much. They had to stick together and keep working. And here they are in the FA Cup final with Glasner hailed a hero.
Oliver Glasner has led a remarkable turnaround at Crystal Palace – patience is a virtue
2. Michael Carrick scored his first West Ham goal 25 years ago this month, the opener in a 5-0 win against Coventry with Frank Lampard alongside him in midfield. Now Carrick’s Middlesbrough will tackle Lampard’s Coventry in the last-day tussle for places in the Championship playoffs. Former Arsenal pair Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey collide in caretaker charge of Norwich and Cardiff with less to play for.
3. There is room for sentiment so oversized bobble hats off to Paul Warne, new boss of Milton Keynes Dons, for making one change to hand a first league start since August to Dean Lewington in honour of his final home game for the club. Lewington, 40, made his 916th appearance in a goalless draw against Grimsby.
4. On a day of ups and downs, there was comfort for some in mid table. Woking were deep in relegation trouble when appointing Neal Ardley in December but finished 15th in the National League, unbeaten in their last eight. Barnet, who won the title in 2005 and 2015, did it again to delight numerologists and clinch a return to the EFL.
5. Truro City won the National League South’s scramble for promotion. The final day began with six teams in the mix for the one automatic place. Leaders Truro beat St Albans 4-1 to hold off Torquay on goal difference and become the first Cornish team into the fifth tier of English football. Goodbye regional football and hello 900-mile round-trip to Carlisle.
