Arsenal: What the stats don’t say about Bukayo Saka

Statistics in football differ from the underlying metrics. Often times even those can be misleading, or in most instances unrepresentative, as they don’t tell us what the eyes see. With Bukayo Saka, his Arsenal numbers often come under critique.

Handed the No. 7 shirt before the start of last season, Saka has since become a leading figure at the club. One of the first names on the teamsheet, there are few tactical intricacies that could ever warrant his exclusion.

Even last season when he rightly scooped the Player of the Season award, those who didn’t tune in to Arsenal every week called out his return of five goals and four assists in the Premier League as someone not warranting the England opportunities he was receiving. They were all so wrong, and were left to eat their words after watching him at the Euros.

With Emile Smith Rowe adding those vital final ingredients to his game with goals and assists this season, the spotlight has shined on his Hale End partner to follow suit. As young as he may be, as a regular forward in this team he needs to start bulking up those numbers. After 11 matches of the season he averages a goal involvement every 268 minutes.

While Bukayo Saka may not be getting goals and assists this season, Arsenal rely on him to execute their tactical plan beyond his end product

The numbers aren’t quite there yet. Once Saka starts mastering his finishing this division won’t know what hit it.

But looking past the importance of contributions, what the stats don’t illustrate is what Saka offers as a piece in this puzzle. Against Watford it was the man on the other flank who stole the show with his third goal in as many games, but the role of Saka remains as pertinent as ever.

Compare him to Nicolas Pepe, the other option on that flank, and the gulf in security is vast: Saka retains possession and offers a technical reliability that few others in the division, let alone Pepe, can match.

Attacks rarely break down on the right hand side. His feet are so quick and his balance so fine that he can ride challenges and come out the end with possession in tact. The out-to-in runs that have become synonymous with his game are added to with underlapping runs so perfectly timed the opposition never settle.

The way Arsenal build their attacks also enhances Saka’s value. Takehiro Tomiyasu is less adventurous than his fellow full-back and the need to have someone on the right who can hold that side, either with incisive runs in behind and back to cover or merely keeping possession of the ball for long enough for teammates to catch up, make Saka all the more crucial to the system.

There is an argument for that limiting his output in terms of goals and assists. As seen in recent outings, Lacazette has been the one to drift out to the right pockets to facilitate combinations with Saka, but he isn’t someone to move too far wide to accommodate the 20-year-old’s diagonal penalty box entries.

But while the numbers haven’t been stacking up for Saka yet this season – the international break could provide an opportunity – without him the operation wouldn’t run so fluidly. In the way Tomiyasu is almost forgotten about due to the comfort with which he executes his tactical role, the same has to be said of Saka.

An improvement in end product is what the star boy and the coaching staff will be looking at this term. Some of the details are only minor though, and in the way Smith Rowe has exploded in that department, Saka can set off in similar fashion. For now though, without the numbers, his work mustn’t go unheralded.