Ian Wright has hailed the courage of Bukayo Saka after he stepped up to score a match-winning penalty for Arsenal against Liverpool on Sunday at the Emirates.
The Highbury legend shared that he was ‘pleased’ for Saka because of his past relationships with penalties and the racial abuse he received after England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy over 12 months ago.
Since then, the now-broad shoulders of Saka at 21 is putting those events behind him and he is delivering the business for his team.
That was proven yesterday when Mikel Arteta’s side went back to the top of the Premier League table by securing all three points against Jurgen Klopp’s helpless side.
Even though Liverpool’s error-prone defence continued to throw punches in attack, they just couldn’t handle the volume of hits that were coming at them from the other end.
Saka ended the day on a brace and club legend Wright shared that it ‘doesn’t surprise’ him that the Hale-End star is still standing tall after those events at Euro 2020, as he told Premier League Productions (09/10/22 at 6:45 pm).
“I am just so pleased for him,” said Wright. ”I am delighted for him. To take the penalty you have to say to the manager at some stage or say to the players ‘I am on the penalties’.
“For everything he has been through, for him to go and show that, it just shows the mark of the player and what he’s about. He wants the responsibility.
“You have to remember what happened at the Euros, if it goes the other way around, we are talking about a young guy scoring a penalty to win the Euros for England. That’s the responsibility that they gave him because that’s what they think of him.
“So, it doesn’t surprise me that he’s somebody that would say ‘I would take the penalties’. It was brilliantly taken.”
SAKA LEADING ARSENAL’S CHARGE
Arsenal are sitting at the top of the Premier League table as of today, but their journey started well before what is happening this season.
All of this stems from their days of struggles, that season of decline when they didn’t even finish in a European place.
For a club of Arsenal’s size to be so low, it would have been very difficult to pick them up and try to get them back on the map again.
Well, with Mikel Arteta in the dugout, Saka has been a key player behind the club’s turnaround and along with being one of the youngest players on show.
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