Saka scores on return from injury as Gunners beat Fulham
Arsenal's Bukayo Saka celebrates
Bukayo Saka scored the winner on his comeback to lift a mood of doom and gloom as it appears Arsenal will have to face the attacking might of Real Madrid in the Champions League next week without talismanic defender Gabriel. Saka’s second-half header put a smile back on the face of manager Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal crowd after Gabriel limped off for what could be a lengthy spell on the sidelines. That would appear to be the only diagnosis after the Brazil centre back limped off with what looked like a serious hamstring problem only 16 minutes.
Mikel Merino’s first half strike and Saka’s joyous second that lifted Mikel Arteta’s men to within nine points of Premier League leaders Liverpool to nine points. That race feels like it has long since been run and all focus of the Arsenal supporters and is on their tantalising quarter-final with the Spanish giants of European football.
The night started on a high with Saka, himself a victim of a hamstring injury, returning to first-team duties for the first time since December last year. Arteta sensibly stuck his Starboy on the substitute’s bench on his comeback night.
And he must have been wary of showing him anywhere near the pitch after Gabriel went off in such clear pain and discomfort. If, as seems certain, Gabriel is out for a minimum of a few weeks, he will miss both legs of the Madrid tie in which Arsenal will need to defend against attacking players such as Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Endrick and Jude Bellingham without their No.6.
The defender is also a crucial source of goals at set pieces, so he will be missed there too. His absence makes it 11 first team regulars who will have faced serious injury issues this season for Arsenal. The main ones are Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori.
The latter two in that list are both defenders and might have replaced Gabriel but both missed this match through injury too and will need to be around for Saturday’s trip to Everton to be in fighting fit form to face Madrid here next Tuesday evening. Jakub Kiwior, the Polan international, would seem favourite to deputise as things stand.
Goals win games, however, so Saka’s return, they hope, will be of more significance. Out since last December, they had drawn six and lost three of the matches he missed and saw Liverpool run away in the title race in the process.
He leads the stats in every attacking number for Arsenal still, and his simple header from a Merino cross and stunning Martinelli flick came only on 73 minutes, only seven after he came on as a second-half substitute for Etha Nwaneri. His introduction alone lifted the roof on what had been an otherwise uninspiring evening of end-of-season football. Even Fulham, pushing for a rare European place, had little to offer in the way of attacking intent or entertainment. What a disappointment for Saka’s old running partner Emile Smith Rowe, who was taken off by Fulham after making little or no impact on his return to his boyhood club.
Gabriel’s exit sucked the life out of the place even though Arsenal never looked in danger of conceding or losing. Their only threat of scoring, however, had come from the effervescent Nwaneri, who had one powerful volley well stopped by ex-Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno before Arsenal took a lead on 37 minutes. Nwaneri, who else, made the goal with a neat pass after being sent clear by Jurrien Timber and stand-in Spanish striker did the rest with a tidy finish for his seventh of the season.
There were further injury concerns for Arsenal when Timber was withdrawn in the final 13 minutes but the fact he stayed ion the bench and did not go to the dressing room for instant treatment would indicate he is not badly troubled by what looked like a knee issue.
And Gabriel even missed out on his clean sheet bonus when Fulham sub Rodrygo Muniz squeezed in a shot to sore four minutes into time added on.
Saka instantly led his side back on to the attack as, perhaps a sign of better things to come for him and Arsenal. The England international ended the match on his knees in prayer as his theme tune was blasted out around a rapidly emptying stadium.
Raya 6, Timber 7 (Trossard 77), Saliba 7, Gabriel 6 (Kiwior 16), Lewis-Skelly 6, Partey 7, Rice 6, Odegaard 7, Nwaneri 7 (Saka 66), Martinelli 7, Merino 6.
Neto, Tierney, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Sterling, Gower.
Leno 6, Castagne 5, Diop 6 (Sessegnon 77), Andersen 6, Cuenca 5, Robinson 7, Berge 6, Lukic 5 (Pereira 67), Adama 6 (Willian, 67) , Smith Rowe 6 (Iwobi, 67), Jimenez 6 (Muniz 77).
Benda, Bassey, Ree, Cairney
John Brooks 6.
