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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Mark Jones

Ederson's mind games failed to work on Bukayo Saka before Arsenal star's penalty

Ederson tried and failed to psyche out Bukayo Saka before the Arsenal star slotted his side level in Wednesday night's summit meeting in the Premier League.

Having given away a penalty following his challenge on Eddie Nketiah towards the end of the first half, the Brazilian goalkeeper stood on the line and watched as Saka prepared to step up.

Then in an attempt to put him off, Ederson pointed to his right as if to say that that is where he was guessing the England star would hit his shot.

And sure enough, Saka strolled up and dispatched his penalty into that right corner, with Ederson diving the other way.

Amazon Prime pundit Eni Aluko was impressed with the composure Saka showed for the goal.

"That’s what mental strength looks like. He’s got history with penalties, we know that, but he always defeats history," she said.

"There was a lot of pointing from Ederson to put him off, he doesn’t let it faze him, Saka puts it in the corner he’s been pointing to. That is what mental strength looks like because that is a pressured penalty to bring Arsenal back into the game.

Saka fired his penalty into the corner Ederson challenged him to hit it into (Amazon Prime Video)

"He didn’t take his chance earlier in the game, he had a chance left foot where he should have hit it earlier - didn’t faze him - scores the penalty and now the game is in the balance.

"Arsenal have actually had the better chances and I think it’s important for this game he plays well and continues to take on his one v ones."

It was a goal that brought Arsenal level in the clash after they'd earlier fallen behind to Kevin De Bruyne's strike, with the Belgian finding the net after an error from Takehiro Tomiyasu who underhit a backpass to allow De Bruyne to run through and strike a lofted effort over Aaron Ramsdale.

Commentating on Amazon Prime, Ally McCoist said of the goal: "It was an error [from Tomiyasu] but it was brilliant [from De Bruyne].

"Clearly he doesn’t see him coming, but I can’t tell you how good this finish is. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

"It’s not as easy as it looks, he knows exactly where the goalkeeper is, I thought he was gonna take a touch around him - no chance. He’s got enough confidence in his own ability.

"Tomiyasu is really short with the pass back, you can see his face there, but look at that, he meets it perfectly. It might just be above the foot and below the bottom of the shin - beautiful."

City would end up seeing out the game in the second half, with Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland securing a 3-1 win.

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