Mikel Arteta hailed the “beautiful moment” that the Emirates crowd paid welcomed Bukayo Saka back after more than three months out.
Saka scored seven minutes into his first appearance for Arsenal in 101 days as he netted the second goal in their 2-0 win over Fulham on Tuesday night.
The England international had not played for 20 matches after suffering a hamstring injury in December that required surgery.
Saka was introduced from the bench in the 66th minute and headed home a Gabriel Martinelli flick just seven minutes later.
He had been cheered by the home supporters when his name was called out before the game, when he was warming up, and when he came on for Ethan Nwaneri.
“A beautiful moment to see how much our people love, respect and admire Bukayo,” Arteta said.
“It’s not a surprise to any of us. The best example is his reaction. Immediately after scoring a goal, what does he do? He goes and says ‘thank you’ for all the hard work that all the sports science guys, physios and everybody involved in his recovery have done for him to be able to be in the condition he is in.”
Arteta added: “I think he lifted the stadium. It’s great to have him back.
“He was really positive [after the match]. The first one is always the one where it’s ‘How am I going to feel?’ He dealt with it really well.”
Martinelli provided the assist for Saka’s goal and the Brazilian was full of praise for his team-mate after the match, declaring Arsenal were “lucky” to have the England star.
"We know how good he is and how important he is for our team,” Martinelli said.
“He is one of the captains as well. We trust him so much. I'm really happy for him. It's good to have him back and we are lucky to have him.
"It's not good being out. We prefer to be on the pitch and helping the team but we need to try to improve things when we get injuries. We did it and now we are happy to have him back."
