‘Incredible’ Saka Makes The Difference For Arsenal, Say Arteta

Mikel Arteta praised Bukayo Saka’s “incredible talent” after the Arsenal forward’s double inspired a 3-0 win over Monaco that moved his side closer to the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday.

Before Kai Havertz’s fourth win in six games in the revamped league phase of Europe’s elite club competition, Saka scored late in each half at the Emirates Stadium.

With just two games left, the Gunners are third in the table and are on the verge of automatic qualification for the last 16.

That should be a simple task for Arsenal given the January fixtures against Dinamo Zagreb and Girona.

However, Saka must stay in top form if Arteta’s team is to claim their first Champions League title.

The 23-year-old has scored five goals in all of his previous six games, nine in the season, and added a ton of assists.

Even those impressive statistics don’t do justice to Saka’s influence on Arsenal.

More than anyone else, Arteta is aware of how much Saka has grown since the Spaniard’s rule in 2019.

“He looks really mature. At his current level, what he has already accomplished in the game is incredible. Very humble, a great guy to have around and an incredible talent,” Arteta said.

“He’s a special person. In his role his leadership is increasing. With the young kids he is amazing, with the seniors he is amazing. Everyone loves him, and he makes a difference on the field. ”

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‘The ambition he has’

There is little chance that Saka will blow his own trumpet because he is a quiet, self-assured person both on and off the pitch.

However, it is starting to become popular to rank the winger among the best forwards in the world, and Arteta agrees that he is on the right path to being compared to Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Vinicius Junior.

He claims that is what he wants. That is his level of ambition and talent. He is preparing himself every day so I’m not surprised,” he said.

To put yourself in that position, you must be able to do that consistently over a long period of time.

“What he has done at that age, you can put him in those brackets. It was an exceptional performance for him during his six years playing professional football.

“That has been an evolution. He wasn’t able to do that at 18 or 19. A year or two ago, he developed in the right way, his condition, his preparation.

He is now playing every three days at the highest level. ”

Arsenal have won five of their past six games in all competitions, but Arteta acknowledged that they weren’t performing well against Monaco.

They squandered a number of chances in the opening period before Saka’s stunning second goal, which was fortunate that Monaco had missed opportunities to equalize.

In the first half, we should have scored four or five, but that wasn’t the case, according to Arteta.

There will be challenging matches in the Champions League, and we will go through them, but with the second goal, the game was in charge. ”

Arsenal opted to withdraw from the Champions League last year when it faced Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

This term, they appear to be showing signs of maturity in Europe, and Arteta is confident that they will pose a serious challenge for the trophy.

We are having fun on our run. We can compete against any team,” he said.

“We keep learning. We obviously need more, and I’m confident that we will experience some difficulties in the near future. ”

Source: Channels TV