Arsenal: 3 huge positives from Leicester disappointment

Arsenal, Mikel Arteta (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Arsenal, Mikel Arteta (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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Arsenal, Bukayo Saka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Arsenal, Bukayo Saka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

2. Bukayo Saka is a star

At 18 years of age, you sometimes hope that a young player can break into the first team and produce a handful of bright moments in a season, just little glimpses of what they may be one day capable of. It is foolish to expect them to break into the starting XI on a consistent basis and dominate. And yet, that is precisely what Bukayo Saka has done under Arteta’s guidance.

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This time playing off the right flank, Saka showed off his wing ability time and again. He, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette formed a superb front three, especially in the first half. They exploited the space Leicester afforded them, pulled the back three to shreds with quick combinations and superb movement, and could have scored far more than the one they did.

Arteta praised Saka’s accuracy and precision in his post-match press conference:

"“He’s really good and really accurate. He’s very precise in the final third and the closer he gets to the box actually, the picture is clearer for him, but he will score a lot of goals because he has really good quality in terms of finishing with both feet. He’s learning a different role from the one that I demanded him to play again today and in some moments he had some difficulties, but he also read some situations really, really well and he was a threat.”"

Saka notched his 12th assist in all competitions. He now has the joint-second-most direct goal involvements in the squad. He is an absolute star.