Arsenal's Bukayo Saka chasing new Premier League milestone in Newcastle fixture

Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka will be chasing a new Premier League milestone when the Gunners travel to Newcastle United for Sunday's fixture.

The 24-year-old is expected to make his first Premier League start in over a month at St James' Park, having made a complete recovery from the hamstring injury he sustained in August's 5-0 home win over Leeds United.

Saka replaced the stricken Noni Madueke at half time in last weekend's 1-1 draw with Manchester City, where the latter sustained a serious knee injury that is expected to sideline him for around two months.

With Madueke out of contention, Saka was risked from the start in Wednesday's 2-0 EFL Cup third-round win over Port Vale, but he came through 63 minutes unscathed before being replaced by Max Dowman.

Barring an unforeseen late concern, the 24-year-old will line up on the right for Arsenal at St James' Park on Sunday, where just one goal or assist will see him hit a new landmark.

Newcastle vs. Arsenal: Saka bidding for 100th Premier League goal involvement

Should Saka score or set up a teammate against Newcastle, the Hale End graduate will be celebrating his 100th direct goal involvement in the Premier League, where he has currently had an involvement in 99 goals from 198 appearances.

Saka has scored 54 of his own while laying on 45 assists in the English top flight, and he would become just the eighth Arsenal player to register 100 Premier League goal involvements if he can weave his magic at St James' Park.

Thierry Henry unsurprisingly leads the way in terms of Arsenal's all-time Premier League contributions with 249, followed by Dennis Bergkamp (181), Robin van Persie (135), Ian Wright (123), Theo Walcott (107), Cesc Fabregas (105) and Robert Pires (103).

Furthermore, should Saka hit his century on Sunday, he would become the second-youngest Arsenal player to do so in the Premier League at 24 years and 23 days, only older than a 23-year-old Fabregas in 2010.

Across all competitions, the England international has already been involved in 142 goals in 267 outings for the Gunners, registering an identical 71 strikes and 71 assists.

Arteta hails "very rare" Saka quality before Newcastle vs. Arsenal

Head coach Mikel Arteta was also asked about the possibility of Saka reaching 100 PL goal involvements in his pre-game press conference, and the Spaniard hailed a "very rare" quality that the 24-year-old possesses.

"100, 101 and 102, hopefully on Sunday! I think that's in less than 200 games as well, which is a really impressive record," Arteta told journalists.

"That tells you again, when we talk about consistency of attacking players, creative players, that's very rare to find. And at his age especially, more. But that's the talent that we have."

The Arsenal boss also issued another positive update on Saka's fitness, adding: "Nothing to report there. I think he's played the games that we anticipated, he did well, he feels good and he will be training the next few days."

Arsenal enter the weekend second in the Premier League table, but they could be eight points behind Liverpool by the time Sunday's game kicks off if the Reds can overcome Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.