Bukayo Saka said it was “extra nice” securing a 1-0 win over Leeds United given Arsenal were under so much pressure throughout the second half.
The England international rifled the Gunners into the lead on 34 minutes of an end-to-end first half but the home side upped the ante after the break doing everything but beating Aaron Ramsdale.
Patrick Bamford’s missed penalty underlined the home side’s frustrations on a manic afternoon in Yorkshire when a power cut delayed the game by 37 minutes and referee Chris Kavanagh overturned a second Leeds spot-kick deep into stoppage time.
After the match, Saka, like all Arsenal fans, was a bit frazzled.
“My heart is still racing,” he told Sky Sports. “I’m really happy to get the three points, it was a really tough game, Leeds did really well, especially in the second half.
“They put a lot of pressure on us. It makes it extra nice for us to leave with all three points.”
Asked if he’d ever experienced so much pressure before, he added:
“Yeah, I’m sure I have. Credit to Leeds, they were really good, especially in the second half, like I said.”
The winning goal was clinical from Saka. After a loose cross field pass by Rodrigo, the winger exchanged passes with Martin Odegaard before lashing into the top corner at Illan Meslier’s near post.
“I know the quality that Martin [Odegaard] has, so as soon as he got the ball, I just tried to be ready to make the run wherever he wanted to give it to me and luckily I was on the end of it,” said Saka.
The win means Arsenal have won nine matches out of 10 at the start of a league campaign for the first time ever. Next up, PSV Eindhoven head to the Emirates on Thursday before a trip to Southampton on Sunday.
😀😀
Mad oooo!!!😅
Top lad, love him. And 9 out of 10 wins (and we deserved better at United) is a sensational start to the season!
Plus Invincibles Day today!
Ya, still pissed with that United loss, we outplayed them. And they were lucky with couters, ASHoles.
Down voted by a bitter spurs fan
Love their sadness
Wow, record breaking team already, and they are still so young…get in!
Gabriel Magalhães vs. Leeds:
100% aerial duels won
90% pass accuracy
80 touches
9 duels contested
8 duels won
4 clearances
4 blocks
3 tackles
3 interceptions
1 shot
LOVE Gabriel ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
The nonsense I’ve seen from arsenal fans about this man is laughable, saliba has made more mistakes yet for some reason Gabriel is the one that gets highlighted, doesn’t help much when arseblog continues with the fickle narrative as well.
What narrative?
https://twitter.com/arseblog/status/1581675754743472128
Look at the player ratings, he had a very good game.
That was really bad for my heart. But I really do enjoy winning against a team that wanted to beg and hassle refs for every little thing.
Jesus was not at it today, thought we looked far more potent with Nketiah. Whole team looked tired I suppose.
Winning when you don’t deserve to win tastes almost as sweet as a complete and utterly dominant win
He’s been needing a goal and what a goal it was. Let’s hope this is the beginning of him racking up some goals like last season.
He scored 2 last time
Scored against Pool and Glimt as well 🙂
Opened his prem tally this season against Utd
In two games in a row where we have been 2nd best for a lot of the time, Saka has been the difference.
On the angle you only trouble the keeper if you can hit it with incredible power and accuracy the way he does.
The shot against Sp*rs, which Jesus then scored from after Lloris spilled it out – everyone talked about a keeping error but the sheer power made that happen.
Saka Top Player.
Stick that one up your hole, celebration police!
Backs-to-the-wall win for the boys. This game showed us the other side of this Arsenal team. We need both sides to achieve our main target this season.
Was at the edge of my seat the whole of extra time. COYG…
What a finish from Saka. Composure, power, accuracy.
He has scored the winning goal three times in a week.
No disrespect to Marquinhos – who looks like a really exciting winger himself – but it’s frightening to think where we would be if Saka picked up a knock even just for a few weeks.
Vieira can play there too
Too many players went silent today. Jesus and Martinelli were lost for most parts, and we encouraged them to run at us. Happy though that we won!
Did anyone in the media mention that the penalty should never have been given as there was a blatant offside in the build up?
Fudge Paddy Power and their shitty memes!!
The divine Karma doler saw it… and thats all that counts.