Arsenal: The 3 young players who are ready to be starters

1. Bukayo Saka

What has been most impressive about Bukayo Saka’s recent form when filling in for Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac is his mastery of the normal stuff. While his brilliant assists, skilful dribbling, and even goals were impressive, brilliant young players can often produce the individual moments of brilliance. It is the consistently good pieces of play that is so much more difficult: the simple touch and pass to keep possession, the dangerous cross into the box, being in the right position to provide an option. This is where Saka was so good.

When forecasting potential playing time, Saka might struggle because he is a tweener. He is a natural left-winger but is built in a throwback mould. He wants to ‘keep chalk on his boots’ and he stands on the sideline, receives the ball to feet, and then has the chance to drive at an isolated full-back in one-on-ones. Arteta does not use this role.

Instead, Arteta asks his left-winger to drift inside, to make runs behind the defence off the ball, to score goals. Saka can learn these movements, of course, but they are not as natural to him as they would be to Martinelli, for instance.

Nevertheless, that he has the normal rhythms of senior play down to a tee is a huge advantage. Arteta can rely on Saka to produce consistently. He rarely has a poor performance. That is very rare for a young player and it proves that he is ready to play, whether at left-back or left-wing.