🦁 Premier League Player of the Week: The smiling assassin | OneFootball

From fights at the Bridge to crumblings by the coast, it was a fascinating weekend of action in the Premier League.

But our Player of the Week is …

Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

In the modern history of Arsenal, there aren’t many players better than Robert Pires.

The tricky winger added an extra touch of Gallic flair to Arsène Wenger’s glorious sides of the early 2000s.

And were it not for the true genius of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, perhaps Pires would be rightly remembered as one of the best forwards to ever grace the Premier League.

Still, in north London, you don’t evoke Pires’s name without understanding the weight it carries and yet this weekend, Bukayo Saka was there alongside the brilliant Frenchman.

With his two assists against Southampton on Saturday, Saka overtook Pires in the Arsenal assist charts, totalling 42 in just his 177th Premier League appearance for the Gunners.

It is, as coach Mikel Arteta said after the game, “unbelievable” what Saka is doing this season at just 22.

“There are the stats and you cannot get away from that, and what he’s doing at his age is unbelievable,” the boss said.

“He has the capacity to change and decide games like many other players. That is his maturity and it’s another step in what he wants.

“When you do it at home, do it in big games, in not so big games, and when the team needs him. That’s what defines a top, top player. If we want to be at the top, sometimes players have to create those moments and he’s certainly done that again today.”

This may have been a “not so big game” for the title contenders, but with just under an hour gone, things were looking worrying for Arsenal.

Cameron Archer scored against the run of play with the south coast club successfully frustrating Arteta’s men up to this point.

But like all good teams, Arsenal used that knock-back as motivation, and within three minutes netted an equaliser.

Saka won the ball back 40 yards from his own goal, lifted his head and played a perfect pass into the path of Kai Havertz who netted superbly.

The England winger’s second assist though, just 10 minutes later, was even better.

Beating two men on the right-hand side, Saka cut back inside and clipped a delicious cross over the Saints defence and into the back post, where Gabriel Martinelli was waiting to volley in.

The comeback was complete but the Emirates roof was lifted off once again in the final moments as Saka’s afternoon went from good to great.

Reacting first to a defensive error, the Arsenal man honed in on the ball and rifled in a third past former team-mate Aaron Ramsdale to secure the three points.

Not for the first time this season, Arsenal’s smiling assassin had shown why he deserves to be mentioned amongst some of the club’s greats.