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Football London
Football London
Sport
Kieran King

What Bukayo Saka has done for England as he harks back to early Arsenal days

It's poised to be another special evening for Bukayo Saka as he is set to make his 11th appearance for England in their World Cup qualifier against Andorra.

The Arsenal winger impressed for the Three Lions at Euro 2020, featuring in five matches at the tournament and was named Man of the Match in the group stage win over Czech Republic.

That form earned him a place in Gareth Southgate's 25-man squad for a trio of games in September and he came on as a second-half substitute at Hungary in mid-week.

Saka will start in England's game at Wembley tonight (Sunday) as they look to make it five wins from five and take another big step to seal their place in Qatar next winter.

Southgate has rung the changes for the game against The Tricolours, making 11 in total, including Saka, who could be deployed on the left wing alongside Patrick Bamford and Jesse Lingard in a front three.

Something which has stood out from his selection is that the 20-year-old will wear the number 11 shirt, having not worn that jersey since he played for Arsenal Under-23s.

His last appearance for the youth team came back in April 2019 in a 3-0 win at Leicester City, a game in which he scored in, too.

During his breakthrough season at the Gunners, Saka had the 77 on his back, playing 42 times across two seasons with that number.

But after Henrick Mkhitaryan departed the club for Roma, he was awarded with the No.7 for the 2020/21 campaign and continued his electric form, earning his first England cap in the process.

However, this will remind Saka of his academy days and the platform that was built for him to embark on his journey to being in this position.

His only England goal came in a friendly against Austria and is yet to get off the mark in a competitive fixture but the tie with Andorra provides him with the perfect opportunity to score.

Although Saka hasn't had the greatest start to the season for Arsenal, a positive performance for his country could give him a platform to have another successful year.

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