Bukayo Saka is hopeful that Arsenal’s injured players can help push the team to fight for the Premier League title on their returns.

Arsenal’s hard-fought win over Brentford on Saturday took the Gunners to the top of the Premier League, reigniting some of last season’s hopes of a long-awaited title win.

This season hasn’t been quite as exciting, but the Gunners are still grinding out results, and their improved defensive record could yet serve them better than last year’s all-action football in the long run.

Then there’s a sense that the team are still yet to hit top gear, following the summer changes to the side and the injuries so far.

If Arsenal picked up in the second half of the season, that could see them reverse the trend of the last few years, finishing strong instead of dropping off at the end.

“Well, I hope that’s the case,” Bukayo Saka said at the weekend. “Right now we’re getting good results, we’re top of the league and we’re only going to keep progressing, improving, and getting better as a team.”

As mentioned, one potential reason to be optimistic about the future is that Arsenal have had a number of players out injured in the first 13 games.

Some of them are already back, whilst others are yet to return, and Saka thinks that could make the difference.

“We have some injured players who are going to be back and at the business end of the season, I really hope we can push on and do really well,” Saka continued.

“It’s nice to be back on top. We had to fight hard [against Brentford] to achieve that but we’re satisfied with the win and the three points.”

Saka is likely primarily referring to summer signing Jurrien Timber, who seemed to be ready to make a big impact after impressive displays in pre-season and the Community Shield, only to get injured on the opening day of the league campaign.

Emile Smith Rowe and Thomas Partey are also currently out injured, with Fabio Vieira suspended.

Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, and Ben White are among other starters to pick up injuries this season, so it’s certainly true that Arsenal haven’t often been able to field their first-choice side.

If and when that happens, it could well have a major positive impact on the team. Arsenal remain top of the league in the meantime.