Mikel Arteta defended his decision to play Bukayo Saka as the Arsenal winger limped out of their Champions League defeat to Lens. The Gunners had taken the lead through Gabriel Jesus but Adrien Thomasson levelled following a David Raya error before Saka hobbled out of the game. Lens would go on to win 2-1 courtesy of a second-half strike from Elye Wahi but it was the injury to Saka that will have concerned Arteta more. Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City visit the Emirates Stadium in five days and Saka’s involvement is now in doubt with the England forward having been forced off in the last three games. 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 back-heel, 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.” The defeat ended a forgettable 24 hours for Arsenal after bad weather grounded Arteta and his players at Luton airport for five hours on Monday as their journey to France was delayed. Now their hopes of avoiding a bumpy ride in qualifying for the knockout stages have also suffered a setback after a turbulent night at a rocking Stade Bollaert-Delelis. “No, let’s not put excuses,” Arteta said when asked if the preparations for the game had impacted on a poor team performance. “First of all, congratulations to Lens. They are a really good side. Really well coached. We knew it was going to be a really tough match. “In the boxes we had four or five chances we didn’t put away and we didn’t defend the boxes well enough. “It’s true there were moments in the second half we struggled to be more threatening in the final third and find spaces. “They defended with those numbers really good. That’s something to take for the next game.” Lens had started the season slowly but won their two Ligue 1 games leading into a first Champions League home game in 21 years and defender Kevin Danso was delighted with the outcome. “We gave it our all today in front of our own fans,” he said. “It was a difficult game, Arsenal had a lot of quality and made us sit back really deep, but we kept defending and kept our concentration. Luckily we won the game. “At home we know how strong we are, in front of our fans. That’s what we always try to do: win at home. I’m a bit gutted about the clean sheet, but we’ll take the three points definitely.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Jude Bellingham helps Real Madrid to victory and Bayern Munich hit back to win Danny Care: England taking inspiration from Europe’s Ryder Cup win at World Cup Kieran Trippier aims to ruin Kylian Mbappe’s Newcastle trip even if son is upset

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The Russian envoy attending the United Nations Security Council meeting on president Vladimir Putin’s behalf was told to “stop the war” after he objected to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech on Wednesday. Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia protested the council president’s decision to allow Mr Zelensky to speak before the 15 council members. “We would like to ask you on what basis you are proposing to allow president Zelensky to speak before the members of the council, many of whom are represented by the heads of states and governments,” the Russian envoy said, accusing the Albanian state of demonstrating “open disregard for the procedures and practices of the UN security council”. Albanian prime minister Edi Rama shot back at the Russian leader: “I must say that coming from you all this lecture of violating the rules in this building is quite an impressive shot.” “You stop the war and president Zelensky will not take the floor,” he said, after noting the objection flagged by the Russian leader over the Ukrainian leader speaking before the council members had addressed the meeting. Mr Rama also cited the council rule allowing a non-member to speak first and added that “this is not a special operation by the Albanian presidency”, eliciting laughter with a quip about Russia’s insistence on referring to its offensive against Ukraine as a “special military operation”. Another heated exchange erupted at the table after Mr Nebenzia referred to Mr Rama as Albania’s prime minister and a Nato member instead of as the council president but Mr Rama declared: “I take note, and we’ll continue with our session.” Shortly after, Mr Zelensky took to X and thanked the Albanian leader for “correctly handling Russia” as he shared a video clip of the heated exchange. “Dear @EdiRamaal, today at the UNSC you showed the world how to correctly handle Russia, its lies, and its hypocrisy. I thank you for steering the presidency in such a principled manner,” he said on Twitter. The second day of the UN meeting in New York was flooded with speculations on the Ukrainian president and Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov clashing for the first time in person since the invasion in Ukraine started in February last year. The two were either expected to clash, speak or totally avoid each other. In the end, Mr Zelensky and Sergei Lavrov avoided staring each other down across the UN Security Council’s famous horseshoe-shaped table as the former left before Mr Lavrov arrived. Mr Zelensky denounced Russia as “a terrorist state” while Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia sat facing him near the other end of the table’s arc. As the Ukrainian president launched into his remarks, the Russian briefly looked at his phone, then tucked the device away. Mr Zelensky left before Mr Lavrov’s arrival, which happened as US secretary of state Antony Blinken was accusing Russia of having “shredded” key provisions of the UN Charter. Mr Lavrov blamed the West for “a shaking of global stability as well as the exacerbation and the fomenting of new hotbeds of tension”. He said “the US and its satellites have egregiously and openly interfered in the domestic affairs of Ukraine,” heightening the risks of global conflict. He insisted that Russia has “fully” respected the provisions of the UN charter “in an interconnected way”. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Zelensky says UN ‘incapable’ of stopping Putin’s ‘criminal aggression’ Ukraine kills 130 Russian soldiers in single day in southern push Ukraine rejects defective Leopard 1 tanks from Germany after finding ‘serious faults’ Inside a Ukrainian brigade’s battle ‘through hell’ to reclaim a village on the way to Bakhmut Russian strikes cities from east to west Ukraine, starting fires and wounding at least 14

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