Bukayo Saka sees his Arsenal dream finally come through at Christmas

‘Rest’ might have ranked near the top of Bukayo Saka’s Christmas wishlist after years of him playing through the pain barrier for the Arsenal cause.

It looks like he has finally gotten his wish.

The Hale End man still bears a huge workload and injuries to Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli in this campaign did not help in reducing it. But he did start on the bench at Bournemouth on Saturday, missing his first Premier League start since September as the aforementioned Madueke made a rare first-team appearance.

And the summer arrival proved his worth for the rotation job. He produced a dazzling run to get past Antoine Semenyo in the first half; he jinked one way, then the other, before cutting a pass back from the byline that eventually found Gabriel for the equaliser.

To see Madueke cause so many problems - he gave Adrien Truffert a tough time - must delight Mikel Arteta. The boss has not always seemed keen to use the depth at his disposal (injuries have hardly helped, of course) but he took the chance to bench his prized asset for a tricky away match and it paid off, with Madueke ensuring there would be no great drop off in on-field quality in his absence (though maybe his end product needs work…).   

Bukayo Saka finally sees his Arsenal dreams come true after years of playing through the pain

Rotation might, too, allow fans to see the best version of Saka more often as he will be fitter when he does take the field. Fresh legs off the bench should only help his body keep up with his tremendous football brain and, thus, inflict maximum pain on the opposition as it did on Saturday night; his burst of pace left Truffert for dead before he showed great awareness to pick out Declan Rice on the edge of the box for the third goal.

Perhaps one could say Arteta is not exactly working miracles: many managers would kill for the level of investment he got last summer and it is far from rocket science or even a great leap of faith to use that depth when it is at your disposal.

But it still must be used wisely, and the backend of the Christmas schedule (after little respite over the past month) seems like an opportune moment for it to come good, especially as the Premier League champions are up next on Thursday night.

It is the midway point of the campaign and Saka will be fully fit for that match; as fans, we prayed for times like these.