Arsenal’s title challenge remains on track after a dramatic 3-2 win over Sp*rs but winger Bukayo Saka admits the closing stages of a pulsating encounter were not fun for his teammates.
The Gunners raced to a three-goal advantage before half-time – Emile Pierre Højbjerg putting through his own net before Saka and Kai Havertz added a gloss to proceedings – but they were made to sweat after the break when a David Raya howler handed Cristian Romero a chance to reduce the deficit before Son Heung-Min scored a late penalty to set up a grandstand finish.
While Arteta’s men did just enough to get over the line and afterwards, Saka couldn’t hide his relief when he answered questions from Sky Sports.
On his relief at winning…
That last 20 minutes wasn’t nice but it was worth it.
On the momentum shifting…
We know it’s a big derby and they don’t want to lose 3-0 at home so once they got one, the crowd was up, they was up, and the momentum shifted their way. But, I’m proud of all the boys who fought to their end, and we got the three points.
On what you need to do in those circumstances…
We just need to be calm. Obviously, everything’s quite frantic. I think we showed our level heads at the end and I’m proud of everyone to get the win.
On celebrating with the away fans…
Yeah, very nice moment. We know what it means to the fans and what it means to us, so yeah, we’re delighted.
On what it means for the team…
It means everything and we know this is a massive win for us and we’ve got three to go and we’re going to give it everything and see where it leads us.
On Arsenal needing to be perfect…
Yeah. There’s not much room for error, they’ve showed that last year and the years before. We’ve got experience now, we learned our lessons last year and we’re ready for the last few games.
On what happens next…
Shower, get on the bus, put the [City-Forest] game on and hope for the best. City are an amazing team, but they’re not perfect. No one’s perfect. They can drop points. We just need to do our job and see where it leads, obviously.
On learning lessons from last season…
Maybe last season, I don’t know, that could have ended in a draw, but today we showed that we have the experience now and we can come here and get three points, even when the stakes are high and it’s a massive game.
On being the first English player to score 15 goals for Arsenal since…
Ian Wright. It’s really nice and I hope I can continue to make records like this but the most important for me is a trophy. I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it.
Coyg!
I like Sakas honesty. Spoke like a fan. Feels the game like a fan. I wish my he was my son.
B is the best of the best in every way. I love him.
Ramsdale
…would have had multiple of those this season.
In all seriousness, when Raya leapt to claim cross after cross, I thought most keepers, definitely including Ramsdale, would have punched that out. I thought he was great today–but you can’t minimise the effect of that single mistake. We had taken over the match, much more than in the first half, and then it shifted.
Raya has the 4th most high claims this season (36) and is 23rd for punches (4). Such an underrated part of his game.
Maestro Raya made it a tad nervous for all of us.
Facts. Been an interesting year with the jarring change at keeper and watching Raya settling in with the odd mistake here and there. Not something I would have done but the manager has been superb in improving the technical and tactical ability of the squad and I generally give him a lot of time to see what happens to his selections. Havertz being a good example. I still have questions about Raya but defensively we are a better team this year, mileage may vary on how much you think Raya has contributed to that effort. Forward.
The EPL is ours, enjoy it. We are enjoying you too.
What a win.
The mistakes will mean that we are tight for the last three games
“The most important for me is a trophy”. We are all waiting for it Bukayo!
i actually thought it was a very exciting last 20 minutes, i enjoyed it for a change. but remember when we used to end every match like this? every weekend… we’ve come a long way, coyg
Let’s just take those minutes as a boost by us for spu*s for their games against pool and shi*ty. They need to be their best now to even think of UCL qualification.
This was Saka’s best performance of the season for me. His goal was mercurial and decisive, but he was so strong on multiple on occasions bouncing Sp*rs defender off him and tracking back to make important defensive contributions all 90 minutes. What a fucking player.
Yes, I think he was carrying an injury for the past few weeks and that can be particularly noticeable for a wing player because when they lose their burst it’s obvious and really hampers their game. Last week and today he was back to his physical best and the goal involvements duly followed. Davies is a big lad but kept bouncing off of him. Wow. He was our main outlet on the day with Havertz dropping deeper and Leo on the other side. Scored an individual golazo. Wow. What a corner delivery on the own goal. Wow. Another 90+ minutes… Read more »
The the spirit and honesty that runs through this team.
Class act, honesty integrity and desire to fight for the club
Bournemouth always hard to break down.
Utd on holidays and have fa cup final to look forward to so won’t want city winning the league either .Everton are on holidays now too and dyche will wear his suit to the Emirates.
97/98 all over we’ve won it
Same goes to Spurs vs City with Spurs not wanting Arsenal to win the league.
So it will be a roll over for City.
We can only trust Wolve or Fulham to take points off City. Not West Ham or Spurs.
Spu*s want that UCL spot tho. They have to fight for it. And they hate us but they don’t like City that much. Let’s see
The two goals we gave away are a blessing! We’ll be on it now and not complacent. If city win all their remaining games then fair play. But we are in this
I’ll see your “wasn’t nice” and raise you a “fucking traumatic”
Sakas’s best quality is his ability to learn from criticism. The only flaw the haters could find in his game was that he limps off in an exaggerated way. You could see him trying to unlearn it today. Grimaced through the pain.
Did Theo never score 15 goals for us in a season?
Theo got 14 league goals in the 2012-2013 season, but 21 goals overall that year.
Not in PL, for sure in all competitions across the season, but this milestone of B’s is just PL.
Aye, it bloody well was.