Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has struggled to hit the heights he's capable of in the past few weeks as fine margins have appeared to be the difference for the winger. The youngster has played an important part in the side's rise to the top, but he has come under fire in his previous few games.
One of the key points was the penalty against West Ham last weekend, where Saka stood up to take the spot kick only to put it wide, with the Gunners eventually having to settle for a draw. "He loves responsibility but he puts a lot on his shoulders as well," Mikel Arteta said on the Hale End academy star ahead of the clash with Southampton on Friday.
"Again, if he had any doubt about how much people love him, respect him and admire him at the club I think he had a very overwhelming reaction from everyone in the building and the club. In the end I think it can be something very positive that can give him a big lift because everyone acted in an unbelievable way towards him because he deserves it because of the way he is."
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However, penalty miss aside, it has become clearer that Saka has been able to have less influence on games, with much of the threat coming from the left. That may not be down to the England international though and rather changes within the team that have been enforced.
It comes as little surprise that William Saliba's absence has been felt somewhat since his injury last month defensively, though there's also a case to be made for him playing a huge part offensively. His ability on the ball has been exemplary since breaking into the first-team and that may be reflected in the numbers.
Sky Sports displayed a graphic showing the stats for Saka both with and without Saliba in the team, showing that he receives the ball less, going from 59.2 touches on average with the defender down to 55.7, with fewer passes in total too. Perhaps the biggest dropoff comes in the creative numbers, where his shots have dropped from 2.6 to 1.7 and shots on target have more than halved from 0.9 to 0.4.
This may largely be down to the way Saliba is able to progress the ball on the right side of the defence, while Rob Holding - for as decent a job he has done while being drafted in from the cold - simply hasn't been able to do the same. It leaves Arteta with a dilemma over whether he makes a change on the right to get that balance back again, with Saliba's injury still an issue.
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