4 – Saka is doing just fine
Many with this guy in their fantasy team may be sweating on the form of the forward in recent weeks, but Saka popped up when it mattered.
Whilst talk continues around a new bumper contract extension for the 20-year-old, Saka picked up his second assist of the season which set up the winning goal.
He’s played a total of 440 minutes from a possible 450 in the Premier League this season with Arteta clearly so reliable on his star boy which becomes evident in the All or Nothing documentary.
But going back to the Villa game, the only tough moment around Saka’s performance was a five yard miss that came following a rocket of a cross from Martinelli.
Other than that, I thought he had another great game with Lucas Digne and Tyrone Mings having a torrid time trying to keep him quiet throughout the 87 minutes he played.
According to WhoScored data, Saka put in the second best offensive performance on the night with three shots and as many key passes.
His five successful dribbles were again an indication of how he’s still got fuel in his legs despite the ridiculous amount of minutes he’s already played.
I’m not worried about Saka’s form in the slightest because the goals are coming from elsewhere which is making us less reliable on such a young player still learning.
But with Europa League and a squashed Premier League schedule due to the World Cup, we certainly need to be ready for a sufficient back-up to support his rest periods.