Arsenal have built a four-point lead after just nine games and are favorites to win the Premier League, but Bukayo Saka has picked a moment of confidence.
Bukayo Saka says Arsenal’s dramatic 2-1 win over Newcastle last month proved they are ready to win the Premier League title. The Gunners had dropped points in two of their last three league games and lost their last three before heading to St James’ Park.
Mikel Arteta’s side were trailing 1-0 at full-time and looked on the verge of another defeat, but Mikel Merino was the only one to score a valuable equaliser. Things got even better for the Gunners when Gabriel Magalhães snatched all three points with a header in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
As Saka explained in an interview with Sky Sports, the enthusiastic celebration was proof that Arsenal’s players and supporters understood the importance of the result. “In the past, we never did well in games like this away against Newcastle, but we did that this year,” the England international said.
Saka is confident he and his teammates can end the Gunners’ 23-year title wait, but he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground and learning from past experiences. “I think it’s a bit premature to talk about ‘our year’,” the Arsenal star continued.
“It’s still October. Of course, I’ve been in the title race for the last three years and finished second in all of them…What I’ve learned is that it doesn’t really matter now. April is when you need to be there and work to get first.”
read more: Mikel Arteta names Arsenal’s biggest title rival and says he’s ‘afraid of the challenge’
“Right now it’s about staying within that box, building momentum and continuing to perform. It’s still a bit early to talk about winning the title based on some of the results that haven’t gone our way so far.”
Arteta also wants to focus on the moment, with Arsenal currently four points clear at the top of the table, but understands the excitement surrounding the team early in the campaign. “We are where we are,” admitted the Gunners manager ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup game against Brighton.
“This is a credit to us. We have become very consistent, but at the same time we know the difficulty of every match. It’s still early days so there’s no point other than trying to continue to do a lot of things that we do well, but there are also things we need to improve on to get a better margin.”
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Arteta added: “When our staff are excited and when you see the team consistently competing at the same level, they have good reason to believe and I think that’s the important thing.”
“We want to win big trophies and we certainly have to instill that feeling in the team, the club and around it. We are in a very good position at the moment, but we know how quick it will be and how difficult each game will be.”
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