Latest Arsenal injury news as eight to miss Liverpool with Bukayo Saka update expected

Five Arsenal players made their competitive Emirates Stadium debuts on Saturday, three of them came from the start. Eberechi Eze was there to be paraded around.

The underlying feeling afterwards was one of fear, though. Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard went down and had to be substituted off with injuries in the second half.

Despite five goals, two each for Jurrien Timber and Viktor Gyokeres , and three points, Arsenal had an uncomfortable sense of history repeating itself at full time. Mikel Arteta lost both Saka and Odegaard for large periods before Christmas last season as well.

On a day of celebration in north London, Arsenal's squad took a giant hit with just one week until the transfer window closes and they travel to Liverpool for another big Premier League clash. Speaking afterwards, Arteta could not hide the worries.

"Those are the negatives of the day," he said. "So Martin felt something in his shoulder when he landed. We don't know. We'll have to scan him tomorrow and understand a bit better.

"And Bukayo, while he was running with the ball, carrying the ball, wrestling with the defender, he felt something in his hamstring. So let's see. I think it's the other one. It's not the same one as the previous injury.

"But yeah, I mean, we've been two weeks and we already lost Kai, Martin and Bukayo. So it tells you how well-equipped you have to be in this league to manage and to maintain the level that we want."

Arsenal had already been left without Kai Havertz, who has a hamstring problem of his own. It is not yet clear how long Saka and Havertz will be out.

Saka, in particular, is not likely to face months on the sideline. Instead, he could be back shortly after the upcoming international break. "He felt something while he was sprinting," explained Arteta.

"That's never a good sign. We'll have to wait tomorrow [Sunday]. Speak to the doctors as well and understand better what he does. But he's had these injuries before. He knows exactly the feeling of that. So let's wait."

Saka and Odegaard have had scans, whilst there is still uncertainty around Havertz. His injury, off the back of the opening day win at Manchester United, kept him out of the Leeds United game.

It also pushed Arsenal back into the transfer market as they pursued Eze and accelerated a deal for him ahead of Tottenham in a matter of hours last Wednesday. Havertz also missed a significant chunk of last season after an injury in January.

Arsenal have added cover across the squad now, something that Arteta knows is necessary. "Well, that's all we need," he said on having more players to chose from. "I think the other way is not realistic. To survive at the levels that we want for 10 months. Because none of the other top teams in the league do it. So why are we going to be different?

"They still have even bigger squads than we have. So that's the minimum that we can have to compete and be able to do what we want."

Arsenal are working without Gabriel Jesus, who is still recovering from his latest long-term setback. Other players not involved currently are Oleksandr Zinchenko , Jakub Kiwior , Reiss Nelson , Fabio Vieira , and Albert Sambi Lokonga .

The group are all looking to complete transfers away from the club before the 7pm deadline on Monday, September 1 , just over 24 hours after the Liverpool match is set to finish.