Bukayo Saka must protect himself from roughhousing tactics, but manager Mikel Arteta has warned him that he must follow the rules of the game.
During Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Aston Villa last weekend, Saka reacted angrily to a challenge from Philippe Coutinho, shoving the former Liverpool man before teammates intervened.
Saka has contributed to 49 Premier League goals for Arsenal (26 goals, 23 assists), and if he scores or assists against Leicester City on Saturday, he will be the youngest player to do so since Cesc Fabregas in 2008.
With teams increasingly looking to use hard tackling to stop the 21-year-old’s brilliant performances, Arteta believes Saka has a right to defend himself.
“The first one who has to protect Bukayo is himself,” Arteta said. “There’s many ways to do that on a football pitch, within the rules, and he needs to learn and improve that.
“He reacted in a way, but that line is extremely thin and that cannot take him out of his game and lose his focus.
“But he can help that, as well, to have more focus, more determination, more belief for the next action. It’s something he needs to do.”
Saka is set to make his 32nd Arsenal appearance of the season against Leicester on Saturday, and he also started four of England’s five World Cup games in Qatar.
Arteta attributed Saka’s ability to play so many matches to his mentality, explaining: “I really see his determination and where he wants to get to.
“He really wants to get there and have that resilience and that capacity to consistently show a certain level. He has a great physical element to be able to play every three days. Hopefully he can continue to do that.”
With his team leading the Premier League table, two points ahead of nearest rivals Manchester City and a game in hand on the reigning champions, Arteta is hoping to repay the Arsenal board’s faith in him by delivering the Gunners’ first Premier League title since the 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’ season.
The former Arsenal midfielder has had difficult times since taking over in 2019, and he is grateful to the board for sticking with him.
Asked how significant trust was between ownership and manager, Arteta said: “It’s extremely important, obviously. The people you work with need to have faith, but at the same time they have to see every day what you are doing.
“I think it’s something that works very close together, and I was lucky to have the people and the ownership we have. They believed we could continue to do the work that we wanted to do and gave me time. Hopefully we can repay that faith.”
