Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has been offered some words of comfort by Mikel Arteta after missing a decisive penalty against West Ham in Premier League action. The Hale End graduate stepped up to the spot at a key moment in the London Stadium clash, with Arsenal 2-1 in front, but his effort from 12 yards was fired wide.
The Hammers then equalised just moments later through Jarrod Bowen, with the momentum shifting drastically in favour of the hosts. Michail Antonio went closest to a winning goal, but it was another two points dropped for the league leaders in their title battle with Manchester City
Likely feeling his role in the game could have cost the Gunners, Saka responded to his penalty miss with a determined message on Instagram. He wrote: "Regardless of the outcome, I’ll always accept my responsibility. Apologies Gunners, I’ll do everything I can to make it right."
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Gabriel Jesus looked as though he was going to take the penalty as he held the ball while the West Ham players complained to referee David Coote. However, the Brazilian, despite scoring from the spot in the 4-1 win over Leeds, handed the ball over to Saka.
Following the result, the Gunners boss delivered his verdict on the key moment from his star attacker, insisting a spot-kick miss was always a possibility. "If you are prepared to take responsibility of penalties, you have to be prepared that in that package the possibility to miss is 100%," Arteta said after the game.
"At some point you’re going to miss. That’s it. You have be able to react to that after. If you cannot do that then you cannot be a penalty taker. Bukayo has been through that and he will go through that again."
Despite his worrying miss from 12 yards, Arteta was quite clear regarding what will be his decision if another penalty is awarded to Arsenal in the coming weeks. He said: "If I had to pick one player to do it, it would be him again. In that moment we missed it and this is football."
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