The majority of those inside the Emirates Stadium took a collective gulp when Bukayo Saka went down not just once but twice to receive treatment before finally being replaced on Sunday afternoon. Thankfully Reiss Nelson, who came on for the Arsenal starlet, scored twice in a 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
Mikel Arteta addressed the media after the game and spoke optimistically about the winger. The Arsenal manager hopes to know more in the next couple of days after what he describes as the aftermath of several ‘bad kicks’ that resulted in Saka being unable to continue.
However, despite being open on the severity of the injury suffered, Arteta refused to be drawn on whether the winger should receive more protection from referees. He simply replied when asked: “That’s for them, honestly.”
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Despite giving away very little, it was certainly a fair question. In the last game against Southampton, Saka was brought down and booked instead for diving despite replays showing a clear connection.
Looking statistically, Saka is one of the more fouled wingers in the top sides in the league. According to FBRef, Saka is fouled 1.55 times per 90, more than Son Heung-min (1.32) Raheem Sterling (1.25) and Jadon Sancho (0.63).
That said he trails significantly to the likes of Jack Grealish (2.41) and Wilfried Zaha (3.36). Both Grealish and Zaha have spoken about the art of being fouled, the former said that he played without the potential for injury in mind.
"That first tackle that went onto my shin was where I’ve been quite sore,” he said after being clattered by Stefan Lainer of Austria in an England match last year. “But I have what I’d like to say is a quality of riding challenges. Even though I get fouled and go down, I ride them quite well.
“Obviously, the way I play I’m going to get kicked all the time and I can’t really be running with the ball and thinking at the back of my head ‘if I get kicked here, I’m one kick away’,” he told the Telegraph. “Trent [Alexander-Arnold] did his just by kicking the ball away.
“So, it’s one of those when if it ever happens it is part and parcel, it is what comes with the way I play.”
Grealish added that his former coach Martin O’Neill told him how to turn it into a positive. A potential lesson for Saka to take note of.
“Martin O’Neill said to me: ‘You never, ever want to get kicked in your own half because there’s no point, you can’t do anything there,” he said. “Try and get kicked around the edge of the box or in the box as much as possible.
“I was a bit young and I thought, ah, OK. But now obviously I understand why. I’ll take the kicks to help my team, definitely.”
In reality, it is unlikely that officials are going to be any better with protecting Saka and therefore the winger, like it or not, needs to learn to ride challenges better and anticipate when he is going to receive them like Grealish.
With Martin Odegaard, Granit Xhaka and Fabio Vieira, Arsenal have a number of set-piece specialists in their ranks. If Saka can protect himself with better anticipation of challenges then Arsenal themselves can benefit from an increased number of set plays.
Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover has been lauded significantly for his work on the training ground both defensively and offensively. William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes have become greater presences in the box for Arsenal and a high frequency of set pieces will only emphasise this.
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