Mikel Arteta confused Dean Ashton with the Arsenal manager’s use of Bukayo Saka against Sporting Lisbon. The winger played every minute of their Europa League last 16 first-leg tie.
Arsenal visited Sporting on Thursday evening but could only return to north London after a 2-2 draw. William Saliba (22’) broke the deadlock for the Gunners with his first career goal in any UEFA fixture. But Goncalo Inacio (34’) and Paulinho (55’) would then flip the scoreline.
Hidemasa Morita (62’) would inadvertently help Arsenal reply and hold Sporting to a draw. Granit Xhaka’s attempt to switch play to Gabriel Martinelli deflected past Antonio Adan off the midfielder. So, all is still to play for during the second leg of the last 16 tie on March 16.
Arsenal rescued a draw at Sporting Lisbon as Bukayo Saka struggled
Arsenal and Sporting both created chances to score throughout their match at Estadio Jose Alvalade. But Adan denied Fabio Vieira while Matt Turner, who endured a difficult time for most of the meeting, denied Marcus Edwards a chance to put the Leoes in front whilst 1-1.
Turner could have done more to keep out Inacio and Paulinho’s efforts. He particularly did poorly handling Sporting’s second after parrying Pedro Goncalves’ effort into the centre of his box. While Saka also often struggled to help spark Arsenal’s attack into life at Sporting.
Saka showed some improvement after the break and won the ball high up the pitch before Xhaka’s switch deflected off Morita for Arsenal’s equaliser at Sporting. But the 21-year-old struggled to find rhythm in Lisbon outside of his sporadic runs at Ruben Amorim’s defence.
What has Dean Ashton said about Bukayo Saka in the Europa League?
The Europa League affair marked Saka’s 35th appearance so far this season from Arsenal’s 36 games across all competitions yet. He only sat out the Gunners’ Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in November. Arteta has also started the forward on 31 occasions.
But Saka struggled to show his immense importance to Arteta and Arsenal against Sporting on Thursday. He did not add to his 11 goals and nine assists, of which just one goal came in the Europa League group stage. And Ashton felt his problems came from a place of fatigue.
“He’s looked tired, Saka, especially in this second half,” Ashton told talkSPORT (9/3, 19:34). “He hasn’t really got involved at all. You just wonder why is he playing the whole game.”
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