Thierry Henry immediately reflected on Arsenal‘s loss to Lens in the Champions League as well as reacting to Bukayo Saka limping off injured just before their Premier League clash with Manchester City.
Thierry Henry reacts to Arsenal’s UCL loss to Lens & Saka’s recurring injury!
CBS soccer analyst Thierry Henry said he was ‘not surprised’ by Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to RC Lens in Champions League action.
Mikel Arteta’s side suffered a shock blow to their Champions League campaign Tuesday night with a group-stage defeat to French side Lens.
The Gunners had taken the lead through Gabriel Jesus but Adrien Thomasson levelled following a David Raya error before a second-half strike from Elye Wahi handed them the win.
However, Arsenal legend Henry insisted the defeat should not come as a great surprise.
‘Away from home in Europe nothing is easy,’ Henry said during the CBS postgame show. ‘These guys that you see on the screen had a hell of a finish on second goal. They fight for every single ball that team.
“Away from home, nothing is easy… I’m not surprised with this result.”
Following the game Gunners manager Arteta told reporters the injury ‘doesn’t look good.’
Arsenal face another tough challenge to keep pace with Manchester City in the Premier League again this season after coming agonizingly close last year.
And losing Saka will come as a big blow as the Gunners prepare to face the reigning Premier League champions this weekend.
‘The only thing you can say about Bukayo is that he’s been playing everything,’ Henry continued.
‘And at one point, you’re going to hit a wall. And it’s going to be a bit too much and it was maybe physically a bit too much tonight… Obviously he’s going to be missed, how long it’s going to be I don’t know but, we need to find a way to beat City because we haven’t done that for a very long time in the league.’
When asked if he regretted picking Saka following his issues against both Tottenham and Bournemouth, Arteta replied: ‘No. It was a knock that he had the other day and he was perfectly fine. It was a backheel, an action that can produce that kind of injury.
‘Let’s see what the extent of it is and afterwards it’s too late. The last few were more knocks than anything else.
‘He hasn’t really missed games. We gave him a break against Brentford (in the Carabao Cup) last week and that was all.’
‘He tried to backheel a ball in the first half and felt something muscular. He felt uncomfortable to carry on so we had to take him off.’
‘We don’t know anything more. It was big enough not to allow him to continue to play the game and that’s a worry for us.’
‘He was really looking forward to playing like every player. It was a big Champions League night. I painted a picture and the type of scenario we were going to face today and they all knew about it.’
‘But this Champions League is so difficult to win away from home. Today we take a big lesson.’