A quick recap of Saturday for you, starting with the news that came out yesterday via David Ornstein Bukayo Saka has signed a new long-term deal with the club. It’s obvious to say that that’s fantastic. He’s actually the last contractual issue we have to deal with for a while, and tying him down to a new contract is great news.
I think it’s probably fair to say that he hasn’t quite produced at the level we know he’s capable of this season. He struggled with injury at the start of the season and has since scored seven goals and provided six assists in 27 appearances in all competitions. I think we could probably give him a composite assist of merit for the way his dangerous deliveries set up two own goals in the Wolves win, but I know that’s not how it works.
I think it will happen though, and I hope we can see those numbers increase in the second half of the season. He certainly has the ability, and like many of the best players at his position, there is still plenty of output, if not quite the end product. No Arsenal player has more shots than him (45, the next best is Trossard with 30), and no Arsenal player has more shots on target. Furthermore, no Arsenal player has more shot-creating actions than him in the league this season (79 overall, with the next best being Declan Rice on 62 and Martin Odegaard on 54), and when it comes to shot-creating actions per 90, only the captain (5.56) is better than his 5, among players who have played a meaningful number of minutes.
Which is to say, I think there’s still more to come from him, and there’s room for improvement, which is something we talked about yesterday on the Arsecast Extra. Opinions on individual players aside, it seems clear to me that this is an Arsenal team that can do better in the final third. We don’t yet have a player who is in double figures in terms of goals scored, and while that could speak to a solid level of collective output, we need someone to catch fire a bit in front of goal to give ourselves the best chance of winning this title. Maybe not just one player either, and for me Saka is an excellent candidate for that.
I worry about the impact that last year’s major injury might have had on him, and worry about whether or not he has lost a step, but in the first half against Liverpool that certainly didn’t seem to be an issue as he roasted his entire back more than once. He faded in the second half, but I think that had as much to do with the overall performance level dropping as anything else. For me, he remains a key figure in this Arsenal team, with a consistency that few others achieve. And going back to my earlier point, it is a point of great encouragement to me that we are six points clear at the top of the table, knowing that we can perform better collectively and individually.
So far in his Arsenal career, Saka has scored 77 goals and provided 77 assists. He’s only 24 and I expect those totals to reach triple digits soon. We also have a real alternative to him for now in the form of Noni Madueke, and while that may have some impact on the number of minutes he plays, we have to take that as a positive. A fresher, less stressed Bukayo Saka should be a more productive Bukayo Saka, and hopefully that plays out between now and May (and beyond, of course!).
However, today we end with a bit of bad news. It appears that Piero Hincapie has suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out for a while. We don’t know exactly how long, but with Riccardo Calafiori also sidelined, this likely means a chance for Myles Lewis-Skelly to play more regularly. It was around this time last season that he was making more first-team appearances, and we saw on Thursday that there was some rust in his game – probably because he hasn’t played that much.
But these are the moments Mikel Arteta has spoken about so often this season. Everyone has to be focused and ready because you don’t know when you will be needed. Myles is absolutely needed now, so let’s hope he’s up to the challenge until we can strengthen the defensive ranks with the likes of Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera not far away.
Okay, I’ll leave it at that. The Arsecast Extra is below if you haven’t listened yet, and we have a short FA Cup preview podcast on Patreon a little later this morning. For now: have a nice Saturday people.
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