Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah both got on the scoresheet as Arsenal beat Bournemouth 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium to secure an FA Cup 5th round clash with Portsmouth.
After the game the two youngsters faced the BT Sport cameras. Here’s what they had to say.
On a satisfying night…
EN: We started really sharp, played some great football. Everyone was at it, pressing. They found it very hard to get out. It was a great start. Towards the end they came back into it a bit but the resilience was excellent. That’s what we’ve been working on with Mikel. Everyone was fighting for each other and working. Obviously it’s great to get through to the next round.
On grabbing a goal…
EN: It came into me [in the build-up] and I just made sure I held it. We’ve been practising that in training. Bukayo was open and he did really well to get down there. I just made sure I got in the box, in the right place. Thankfully, it went in.
On the build-up to his goal…
BS: Mikel is trying to bring back the Arsenal passing way and I feel like we played a lot of good football in the first half. Not so much in the second half because we tried to control the game and manage momentum, but in the first half we played some good bits of football. The goal was obviously very good.
On his partnership with Martinelli…
BS: We train a lot together, we speak a lot, we’re good friends. Every time we speak about how we’re going to beat the defenders and get in behind and score goals.
On coming back to Arsenal…
EN: It’s nice to be back. I had a great experience at Leeds, I learnt a lot. The boss was really happy with what he saw from me. Obviously, you want to play for Arsenal , it’s a dream to play for Arsenal, so I’m just grateful for this opportunity. I’m happy to be back. It was great to be back out there.
On playing Portsmouth next…
EN: It’s nice to be through to the next round. We’re going to prepare and recover well. We’ve got games inbetween so we’re going to focus on that next.
Saka is really impressive at left back!
He’s a great left back.
For the future Saka / Tierney battle for the position excites me. Especially when you break it down and see the current system suiting it.
The way hector is almost staying back with the commitment down the left (granit covering to compensate). Whether this is permanent is another question but at the moment it works fine by me.
Really exciting stuff
Nah.
he’s better at Lwing.
Come next season it will be Kolasinac/Tierney.
Saka on left wing.
Saka can play any position down the left side in a 4-3-3 and be effective in the final third.
Lacazette and Pepe need to get performing because these lads are coming for them. Great that the competition is coming from academy players I don’t know how they do it in the Arsenal youth team but the humble personalities these guys emit is almost as pleasing as the wonderful football they play.
It’s really nice to feel proud again.
Great point about the humble personalities of these young men. It’s really good to see.
Some fans should try to rub off of this.
Apparently David Bentley comes back every now and then so they can learn how not to behave.
I think that could be down to the changes implemented by our collective man-crush, Mertesacker. He regularly speaks about how important it is to not only develop the footballing aspect of the academy prospects, but also their character and personal growth…so that they don’t let the pressure and wages get to their heads.
BFG also had his struggles with anxiety and it seems like that influenced him to share the Wenger philosophy of treating the players as young people first, footballing machines second. And that can only have a good effect on the mentality of youth prospects
Saka x Martinelli is going to be a devastating partnership if allowed to foster. I would much prefer to see Saka play as a winger. But if he does end up becoming a LB the signs so far indicate he would be great as well.
Martinelli will go central because Auba will be gone by summer.
Saka will be shifted back to Lwing.
Rwing remains a concern because Pepe is shit.
Elephant in the room some people prefer to avoid.
72m and worse than Martinelli.
Guess what else is shit?
Your comment!
Need to take things into perspective. OK first half was good but second half as Arteta said, we were disjointed again.
This is a Bournemouth side struggling under Eddie Howe at the moment (Yes some people wanted him to replace Wenger)
And we still leaked a goal without Mustafi which led to a very nervy end.
In fact whilst both Mustafi and Granit tracked their runners today (Mustafi getting injured in the process), Holding did not.
Good win but it needs to be far better executed.
& shots each both Arsenal and Bournemouth. 3 on target for us 2 for them.
Wouold suggest despite 60-40% advantage we had in possession, still not good enough. Plenty of work needed to climb above 10th in table.
Full flow Arsenal way no where near evident yet. Some flashes here and there but we lack wing play on the right.
Willock I thought was good muscling and carrying the ball for us.
But efficiency in possession and instinctive passing still not quite there yet.
While he’s doing a good job at left back, I hope they keep this kid (Saka) as a forward. He’ll serve us much better in that position as he develops some power. His attitude is flawless right now – he reminds me of Bale’s transition to an elite level.
Saying all the right things. Champ!
“Obviously, you want to play for Arsenal , it’s a dream to play for Arsenal,….”
These guys are calling him Mikel. Not boss or gaffer. They’re going to get in trouble
Hahahaha
Arteta is bringing back the Wenger way.
The ‘Arsenal way’ is open to argument, especially for those who saw the ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ era, that was very different.