Thomas Partey has hailed Bukayo Saka as “one of the best young players in the world” after the winger fired Arsenal into the Premier League’s top four.
Saka scored one and assisted another as Arsenal beat Watford 3-2 at Vicarage Road to leapfrog Manchester United into fourth place.
The Gunners are now in the driving seat to finish in the Premier League’s top four as they are one point ahead of Manchester United in fifth and have three games in hand on them.
Martin Odegaard opened the scoring after five minutes and, despite Cucho Hernandez equalising for Watford, Arsenal were ahead before half-time through Saka.
Gabriel Martinelli made it 3-1 after the break and only a late Moussa Sissoko goal made Arsenal sweat to hold on.
Saka was at the heart of the win and he has now been directly involved in 13 goals this season, more than any other player under the age of 21 in the Premier League.
“We all know what he is doing,” said Partey. “He is one of the best young players in the world now.
“I think he is doing a great job. I hope he stays with us for a long time and does what he can, and tries to take this team far.
“I think we are mentally strong. We want to go game after game and this is what we are doing. I hope we continue with this form. We knew coming here it was not going to be easy. We tried to do our best and we tried to control the game.
“At the end, we were able to score three goals. It’s difficult here so we had to manage [the game] and try our best to get the three points. In the end that is what we did.”
