Bukayo Saka was heavily criticised at the start of the season due to the lack of impact from a goal-involvement point of view. However, in recent months he has silenced the critics, and once again established himself as one of Mikel Arteta’s most important players.
This has been epitomised by the fact that he has had the same impact on the Gunners that Kevin De Bruyne has for Manchester City from a creative point of view so far this season. He has been a handful for the opposition and arguably Arsenal’s most threatening player.
And, it is due to his impressive form that the youngster has been called up by England to take part in his first ever World Cup. His dominant Premier League statistics also highlight why he should be in the starting XI under Gareth Southgate.
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Following Arsenal’s 1-0 victory against Chelsea where Saka assisted Gabriel Magalhaes for the winner, the youngster put himself three contributions behind Kevin De Bruyne for number of assists in the league this season. This also means that he ranks second in the division, with De Bruyne leading after assisting on nine occasions.
It isn’t just this season where Saka has dominated the goal involvement statistics, but it has been since the start of the last season. In that time, Saka had the second most goal involvements compared to any other English player with 15 goals and 13 assists, which takes his total to 28. James Maddison tops the table with 30.
Saka has been excellent on the right-hand side this season and is a major reason why Arsenal are currently at the top of the Premier League. However, in England’s last two international matches Phil Foden and Mason Mount have been chosen to start in that position.
Both players have been involved in fewer goals since 2021, with Mount having 25 goal contributions and Phil Foden 23. In last two matches that England played, they failed to win, and lacked any attacking threat until Saka was introduced.
With Foden having an underwhelming performance against Germany on the right-hand side, and Mason Mount also showing a similar poor display against Italy in the same position in the game before, Saka made a statement with his impactful exploits against Germany, and for Arsenal after the September international break which should put him in pole position to start England's World Cup opener against Iran in his preferred area of the pitch.
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