Granit Xhaka has urged Arsenal fans to back Bukayo Saka following his penalty miss at West Ham. England’s Gunners winger sent his effort wide with his side 2-0 up.
The miss was his first from the spot in his five since the Euros two years ago. Racists targeted Saka back then and on Sunday night - but Xhaka called on genuine fans to support the 21-year-old. “We don’t need to blame anybody,” said the Swiss midfielder. “Not Bukayo, not any player.
“I mean, of course he missed the penalty. It happens, not only to him but to bigger, bigger players than him. This is part of the job, part of his career.”
The dropped points mean Arsenal have blown 2-0 leads in successive weeks, at Liverpool and West Ham, with Manchester City breathing down their necks. The Gunners go to the Etihad for a title decider next Wednesday night but first they face Southampton on Friday and Xhaka maintained he will push for Saka to take a spot kick again if Arsenal earn one.
“He is not the first person to miss one and this will not be the last one he misses,” he went on. “But this is the first I think since he was in the first team. So, if on Friday we get another penalty, I will push him to take it again.
“This guy is so young, he’s 21. He’s so strong mentally. We are not worried about him. Of course, he was very disappointed, like all the team, but it’s not about him.
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“It’s not as if we’d have said: ‘Yeah if he scores the game is finished’. No, no, no.
“We have another 10 players on the pitch. He needs our support maybe more now than before. He is young and this is one more experience for his future. But, I think he is so strong mentally that he will bounce back and he will show a reaction on Friday.”
Arteta also backed Saka after the game and said the 21-year-old will continue to take penalties.
He said: "If you are prepared to take responsibility to take penalties, you have to know that in that package the possibility to miss, It's 100% at some stage you are going to miss a penalty and you have to be able to react after that, or you cannot be a penalty taker. Bukayo has been through that and it will go through that again.
"For sure (Saka will continue as penalty taker). And you have to be one player to do it. He has to be then, it was a crucial moment. We missed it and this is football."
Arteta added: "The same that the team has to respond because probably if you go three-nil, you're going to win the match and maybe you win the game for a bigger margin and then we are not discussing about what happened here."
