By Bukayo Saka answered Mikel Arteta’s challenge in the most emphatic way possible, coming off the bench to inspire Arsenal’s 3-0 Champions League win over Lille with a goal and an assist.
Bukayo Saka celebrates against Lille (Credits: BBC Sport)
The England forward had been told by his manager that he should be aiming to score “two or three” goals per game — a demand that reflects just how highly Arteta rates him. Saka did not quite hit that tally against the French visitors, but he shook off illness to make a decisive second-half impact, teeing up Eberechi Eze’s strike to make it 2-0 before coolly rolling in the third himself.
Arteta’s Deliberate Push
Arteta has tweaked Saka’s positioning this season with one clear intention: get him closer to goal. “That is where we need to get him,” the Spaniard explained before the Lille game. “And if he misses the chance, so be it. At the end, the more volume we generate, the bigger the probability of him scoring more goals.”
The winger’s strike was a confident one-touch finish, arriving just days after he missed a late one-on-one in Saturday’s Premier League victory over Leeds. Arteta was full of praise for the response: “He has been getting in great positions, getting shots, getting one-touch finishes and tap-ins. That is the kind of unpredictability we have with that player, otherwise we know how the opponent is going to defend him.”
The manager added that Saka could already have “another four or five goals” this season, and urged him to think in terms of goals per game: “If that shifts, that mentality, he will get into those positions and score more goals.”
Illness, Humour and the Numbers
Saka’s cameo was all the more impressive given he was not fit to start. Arteta revealed the 25-year-old had been feeling unwell: “He wasn’t feeling that good yesterday and today, as he had some sort of illness. He wasn’t ready to start but he was really wanting to contribute to the team if it was needed and he came on and made a huge impact and delivered with real quality.”
There was even a light-hearted exchange after Arteta’s public challenge. “After the press conference… I said ‘Bukayo, I just killed you in the press conference, good luck tomorrow,’” Arteta laughed. “He was laughing. He knows that we have discussed these kind of things and he takes it because he wants to be the best version of himself.”
The numbers underline his growing influence. Saka now has four goals in nine games this season and is taking the next step in his evolution as Arsenal’s key man. He has reached 20 goals in a season just once for the club — the 2023-24 campaign — but his England form is electric too, with five goals in his last four internationals including a double in the 7-0 Nations League demolition of Croatia.
He now sits on 19 European goals for Arsenal — behind only Thierry Henry’s 42 — and his nine Champions League assists trail only Henry and Cesc Fabregas. The challenge has been set. On this evidence, Saka is ready to answer it.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
