The return of Bukayo Saka will definitely unlock star midfielder | OneFootball

Star winger Bukayo Saka has been injured for the last three months. Against Crystal Palace in December, serious damage was done to his hamstring – surgery was required as well as an extended period on the sidelines. This meant that Arsenal have been without our most productive player ever since, negatively impacting the trajectory of our season in the process. Despite being injured for so long, Saka has remained the leading player in some key metrics this campaign. Indeed the most important of those are his 22 goal contributions of which is made up of 9 goals and 13 assists. This only emphasizes the player’s importance and influence in the squad, one that we have missed immensely during his three month absence.

Our goal scoring issues have largely been blamed on the absence of a natural finisher. Though that is a huge part of the problem, we cannot deny creativity has been lacking at times. Saka was immense creative-wise prior to his injury. In fact he still ranks joint second in the Premier League assists chart despite his long injury lay-off. Furthermore, he also ranks highly for big chances created, which is quite astonishing to say the least simply because he’s been out for so long. He shouldered a lot of our creative responsibilities, so a drop off in our goals tally was logical. On Thursday afternoon, the club and indeed the player himself revealed his return to full first team training at the London Colney. This was understandably met with excitement and a new found belief for the rest of the campaign among gooners.

His return will not only boost our attack considerably, it will help Martin Ødegaard return close to the peak of his powers for the remainder of the campaign. Since the Norwegian’s ankle injury back in September, he hasn’t quite been the same this season. This got exacerbated when Saka got injured, leaving gooners frustrated and critical in the process. His output has been far from impressive as well, especially in the Premier League where he has managed just 2 goals and 4 assists thus far. This along with some very questionable performances has led to criticism from a growing number within the fanbase. Some have even gone as far as to suggest a change of captaincy, citing his inability to lead by example – this season – as a major factor.

Analyzing the reasons that have contributed to his slump, his injury in the early part of the season has contributed but in my opinion the biggest has been the absence of Bukayo Saka. A reason why our right, including the right-half space, has been pivotal to the side in recent campaigns has been the brilliant relationship between White, Saka and Ødegaard. The duo of Saka and Ødegaard particularly have been the key. Their styles complement each other almost perfectly, hence maybe why they have such an excellent relationship on the pitch. They combine almost telepathically at times, opening up defenses at will when they are in top form.

This understanding is brought about by stability in personnel which is why I think he has suffered this season. The Norwegian has played with all of Gabriel Martinelli, Ethan Nwaneri, Raheem Sterling and even Leandro Trossard on the right throughout a campaign that has been disrupted by injuries. Regardless of how good Ethan Nwaneri is, none of the players mentioned above complements Ødegaard more than Bukayo Saka. A lot will argue he should play well without the England international regardless. That’s absolutely correct, but at the same time we have to remember the way we play under Mikel Arteta. A lot of the aspects of our play is choreographed and built on familiarity between players. Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka including Ben White are a great example hence why I think we will see the Norwegian close to being back to his best when Saka returns to the pitch competitively.

It remains to be seen when exactly he’ll return to the side, Arsenal host Fulham on Tuesday and it has been speculated he might be in the squad but our best bet should be on the Real Madrid Champions League clash a week later. Whenever he does return, I can bet an improvement from Martin Ødegaard will be seen!

Would love to hear your contrary opinions gooners! Thoughts below please?

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