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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Kieran King

Gary Lineker hails "incredibly impressive" Bukayo Saka after Arsenal star wins award

Gary Lineker has hailed Bukayo Saka after the Arsenal star was named as the Men's Young Player of the Year at the London Football Awards.

The 21-year-old beat competition from teammates Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba to the prize as Arsenal scooped up several awards from a successful evening in the capital.

Martin Odegaard was named as the Men's Player of the Year in a campaign that has already saw him notch an impressive 10 goals and seven assists in the Premier League.

Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta was chosen as the Manager of the Year ahead of the likes of Thomas Frank and Marco Silva, with the Spaniard guiding the Gunners to 21 victories from their 27 Premier League matches so far this term.

Aaron Ramsdale completed a successful evening for the Gunners, scooping the Goalkeeper of the Year Award as the Gunners unsurprisingly won most of the major honours.

However, Lineker has singled out England ace Saka for winning the award and congratulated him for another excellent 12 months in his career.

The Match of the Day host tweeted: "An incredibly impressive young man and a wonderful footballer. Congratulations @BukayoSaka87."

After winning the award, Saka also tweeted: "Thank you to the London Football Awards for awarding me Men's Young Player of the Year. It's an honour to win it for a second time and congratulations to all the other winners! #GodsPlan."

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Saka has been in sensational form for the Gunners so far this season, scoring 10 goals and providing nine assists in the Premier League. The youngster has been a key cog in Arteta's wheel as they aim for their first title since 2004.

The Gunners currently sit five points clear of second-place Manchester City, having won 21 of their 27 top-flight matches to date.

Although he didn't provide a goal or an assist in the 3-0 win at Fulham, Saka played well and will be hoping to continue his good form into Thursday night's clash with Sporting CP at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners were held to a 2-2 draw in the first-leg of their Europa League last-16 tie in Portugal and know a win of any sort will see them through to the next round. However, Arteta admitted his side must improve massively if they want to go through and progress in the competition.

He said: "It's true that it's something that we must improve massively if we want to keep winning games," said the Spaniard. When you concede two poor goals like we did away from home in Europe it's very difficult to get a positive result. We gave too many simple balls away. We need to defend our box much better."

After the clash against Sporting, Arsenal host Crystal Palace in their final game before the international break.

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