Bukayo Saka started in an unusual position for Arsenal against Wigan and his performance in the 4-0 FA Cup win gave Mikel Arteta food for thought.
Bukayo Saka in central midfield (Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Getty Images)
Manager Mikel Arteta was encouraged by the result against Wigan and said Arsenal could use Bukayo Saka in central midfield. Saka was a late addition to the team that beat Wigan 4-0 in the FA Cup on Sunday, playing away from his usual right-wing position.
Arteta was forced to make changes to his starting XI after Riccardo Calafioli was withdrawn in the warm-up. He opted to introduce Saka as a defender, abandoning the idea of playing Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield and instead giving Saka an unfamiliar role.
The experiment worked, with Arsenal scoring four goals in 16 minutes in the first half to end the game. Ebelesi Eze played a through ball, Noni Maduke and Gabriel Martinelli scored, before Saka’s cross headed Jack Hunt into his own net. Gabriel Jesus added a fourth goal for the Gunners, who won comfortably and advanced to the fifth round.
Saka linked up well with Maduke, who plays in his usual right-wing position, and Arteta was pleased with the form of the England star, who was substituted at half-time to manage minutes.
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“It’s a possibility and I wanted to try it. I might use it in the future,” Arteta said. “There are still a lot of games, competitions and different scenarios this season and we have the potential.”
Asked about the merits of the substitution, he said: “Well, he’s more central and closer to the goal. It’s a bit difficult for the opposition to always get the reference. He can also swap positions with wide players and he’s very good at finding those spaces. When he’s there, he can really hurt you on the ball.”
Arteta initially wanted to give Lewis Skelly a chance in central midfield, but Calafiori’s injury forced him to reconsider. “I always tell them, ‘Be ready,’ because you can change at any time in a given role, and Bukayo had to be ready, but he realized that very, very, very late,” Arteta explained.
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Bukayo Saka was unusually featured alongside Noni Madueke (Image: James Fearn/Getty Images)
“But you have to understand the position, you have to understand the intentions of the whole team and if you do that you can perform and I think he had a really good game.”
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown liked the sight of Saka filling the natural role of captain Martin Odegaard, who was absent after taking a hit in the draw against Brentford. “It’s interesting that Saka is playing Odegaard’s role. It was obviously a last-minute change and it really opened him up,” Keown said on TNT Sports at half-time.
“It was good for his confidence. He was playing freely and it was a really good ball. They (Saka and Maduke) are both on England’s right flank, playing together there at the same time. It’s too much for Wigan.”
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