Constitution Hill returns from year’s absence to reclaim Champion Hurdle favouritism​

Bukayo Saka has undergone surgery on a hamstring injury and is set to be sidelined until March, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confirmed on Friday.

The 23-year-old sustained a tear to the muscle in his right leg during the first half of last Saturday’s 5-1 win at Crystal Palace.

“He had a procedure, everything went well,” Arteta told a news conference after Arsenal’s win over Ipswich. “But unfortunately he will be out for many, many weeks.”

Pushed further to clarify an exact time frame, Arteta said: “I said ‘many weeks’ so I think it will be more than two months. I don’t know exactly how much longer. I think it will depend on how the scar tissue starts to heal the first week or so, the mobility of that. Let’s see. Very difficult to say.”

The Gunners laboured in Saka’s absence as Kai Havertz‘s 23rd-minute close-range finish was enough to move Arteta’s side up into second place, six points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Arteta was more upbeat about Raheem Sterling‘s prognosis after Arsenal initially feared the winger would also be sidelined for a lengthy period due to a knee problem.

“The news with Raz I think is better,” he said. “We have to see this week how he evolves, but we expected the knee injury to probably take longer than the way the knee has evolved the last few days. That is good because we need him.”

Arsenal need to find a Robin van Persie. That might be a touchy subject at the Emirates, where the former Gunners centre-forward is regarded with disdain rather than affection after leaving to join Manchester United for £24 million in 2012, but if Mikel Arteta’s team unearth a goal scorer to do for them what Van Persie did for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, the days of Arsenal as the Premier League‘s “nearly team” could be over.

Van Persie famously — or infamously, if you’re an Arsenal supporter — left the Emirates after growing tired of a repeated failure to win trophies. He signed instead for United, where his 26 goals in 38 league games delivered Ferguson’s last, and United’s most recent, Premier League title in 2012-13.

Sometimes one signing can make all the difference. Eric Cantona transformed United from mid-table also-rans to champions in 1992-93, and Van Persie had a similarly transformative effect 20 years later. After twice finishing as runners-up to Manchester City in the title race in 2022-23 and 2023-24, Arteta’s Arsenal now find themselves in the position that Ferguson’s United managed to escape by signing Cantona and Van Persie, especially with both Bukayo Saka (hamstring) and Raheem Sterling (knee) now facing “weeks” on the sidelines after being injured in recent days.

But while Arsenal’s lack of a reliable centre-forward has been an obvious problem for almost two years, they still haven’t addressed the issue.

City’s overall strength and superiority — not to mention the goals of Erling Haaland — would probably have denied Arsenal the last two titles whether or not Arteta’s side had a world-class centre-forward of their own. Yet with City in turmoil this season, Arsenal’s failure to properly bolster their attacking options in the summer looks like it will cost them another title, with Arne Slot’s Liverpool racing away at the top of table thanks in no small part to the 15 league goals already scored by Mohamed Salah.

Kai Havertz is Arsenal’s leading goal scorer in the league this season with just six goals, placing him joint-14th in the race for the Golden Boot. Saka is joint-22nd, with five. Had Arteta signed a proven goal scorer, those frustrating draws against Brighton, Fulham and Everton — as well as the failures to beat City and Liverpool — could have had a more positive outcome, and Arsenal might just be heading into 2025 with a much stronger chance of becoming champions for the first time since 2004.

But how easy is it really to find a modern-day Van Persie or Cantona? Or for Arsenal to turn back the clock and discover another Ian Wright, Nicolas Anelka, or Thierry Henry?

Arteta’s stubbornness over ability and character is perhaps why Arsenal did not take a chance on Ivan Toney last summer, prior to the England striker’s £40m move from Brentford to Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli. He arguably could have pushed harder to sign RB Leipzig‘s Benjamin Sesko or Sporting CP‘s Viktor Gyökeres, had he been truly convinced of the need for an out-and-out No. 9. However, when you are looking for the final piece of the jigsaw, it is understandable that standards and expectations are perhaps unrealistically high. And Arsenal’s situation is not helped by the state of the centre-forward market heading into 2025.

“Everyone is looking for a 20-goal a season centre-forward, but the best ones are at the biggest clubs and the rest are unproven,” a former Premier League sporting director told ESPN. “City have got Haaland, Bayern Munich have Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski is at Barcelona, and Real Madrid signed Kylian Mbappé on a free [from PSG]. Beyond that, you are taking gambles.

“Gyokeres and Samu Omorodion [FC Porto] are scoring lots of goals this season, but the Portuguese League is not strong enough to be sure of their ability to succeed in a top league. Darwin Núñez [who signed for Liverpool from Benfica] is an example of that.

“Look around Europe and see who the major nations are relying on for goals. France have Mbappe and England have Kane, and they’re both at elite clubs. Álvaro Morata has been Spain‘s main striker, but he failed at Chelsea; Cristiano Ronaldo is nearly 40 and still playing for Portugal; and Italy don’t have a striker. Other than Havertz, Germany have Timo Werner and Niclas Füllkrug, but both are really struggling in England [at Spurs and West Ham, respectively]. It’s a really difficult area to find a top player.”

Sources have told ESPN that Arteta chose not to pursue Toney last summer, opting instead to rely on Havertz, Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Sterling, who was signed on loan from Chelsea. Interest was strong in Gyokeres, but with a €100m (£83m) release clause at Sporting, the fee was too high for a player who had only left EFL Championship team Coventry for an initial £17.5m a year earlier. Meanwhile, Sesko had a poor Euro 2024 campaign with Slovenia and signed a new contract with Leipzig, while Omorodion was headed to Chelsea from Atletico Madrid until a failed medical saw the deal abandoned by the Stamford Bridge side.

Going into this season, Arteta and Arsenal lacked an ideal option and every potential signing would have been a gamble. But six months on, their reluctance to make a move is beginning to look like hesitancy and caution, with every missed chance on the pitch reflecting their missed opportunities off of it.

Finding the striker to turn Arsenal from contenders into champions has now become a matter of urgency, but their options are just the same as those they chose to reject in the summer.