Mikel Arteta has said that Arsenal must come together as a team to cope with the absence of Bukayo Saka after the England international underwent surgery on a hamstring injury.

Saka pulled up during last week's 5-1 victory at Crystal Palace, and speaking after Friday night's 1-0 win over Ipswich Town, Arteta confirmed that he had gone under the knife and faces a significant period on the sidelines.

"He had a procedure," Arteta said. "Everything went well, but unfortunately he will be out for many, many weeks."

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"I think it will be more than two months," he said when pressed on a timeframe. "I don’t know exactly how much longer. It will depend on how the scar tissue starts to heal, the first week or so, the mobility of that. Let’s see it’s very difficult to say."

Ostensibly the next in line to replace Saka in the Arsenal squad is Raheem Sterling. The 30-year-old is out with a knee injury of his own however. In a rare bit of positive news for Arteta though, that doesn't appear to be as bad as first thought.

"Yes, the news with Raz I think is better," Arteta said. "We have to see this week how he evolves. We probably expected the knee injury to take longer than it has evolved in the last few days. Hopefully that’s good news because we need him."

Saka will still be a huge miss though. The 23-year-old has either scored or assisted 49% of Arsenal's goals in the Champions League and Premier League this season. This has led to suggestions that the Gunners could dip into the transfer market to replace him.

Arteta though has once again insisted that the solution must be found internally. "As I said the replacement of B is going to be the team," he said when asked how Gabriel Martinelli had faired on the right wing in Saka's sted.

"That unit in particular. Having minutes together and asking different things and doing that. There were moments where it flowed really well and moments where there is more we can do there to improve it and adapt to the quality of the individuals. I’m certain that we’re gonna do that."