Bukayo Saka returned to the starting line-up and played a decisive role as Arsenal recorded a 3-0 home win over Fulham. The result allowed the Gunners to protect energy ahead of Tuesday\u2019s Champions League semifinal second leg against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid while improving their goal difference as a domestic margin.<\/p>\n
The performance was Saka\u2019s most influential since a Champions League match with Monaco in December 2024. After that game Arteta challenged his winger to \u201cgo to the next step\u201d which came with the target of scoring \u201c30 or 40\u201d goals in a season. Injuries, linked in the piece to Arteta\u2019s demands on his constant involvement, have limited Saka\u2019s minutes. The Fulham match was his first start in any competition since the March international break and lasted 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
Arteta had said pregame: \u201cPenetration is one of the words we use the most,\u201d Arteta fretted pregame, \u201cplayers taking initiative and making things happen … It\u2019s extremely difficult against a team that is so organized, so we need to find other ways.\u201d One chosen route was to involve Saka early, and he produced the spark Arsenal needed.<\/p>\n
Viktor Gy\u00f6keres opened the scoring after Saka created the opening opportunity, and the Swedish striker later provided the pass for Saka\u2019s goal. Gy\u00f6keres\u2019s first-half brace and Saka\u2019s contribution left the home crowd satisfied. Saka did not emerge for the second half, the only noticeable concern from an otherwise controlled afternoon.<\/p>\n
Player ratings (selected):
\nGK: David Raya 7.7
\nRB: Ben White 7.1
\nCB: William Saliba 7.0
\nCB: Gabriel 7.3
\nLB: Riccardo Calafiori 7.5
\nCM: Declan Rice 7.4
\nAM: Eberechi Eze 6.5
\nRW: Bukayo Saka 8.7
\nST: Viktor Gy\u00f6keres 9.1
\nLW: Leandro Trossard 8.6<\/p>\n
Subs of note: Noni Madueke (46\u2019 for Saka) 6.3; Mart\u00edn Zubimendi (64\u2019 for Rice) 6.9; Gabriel Jesus (64\u2019 for Gy\u00f6keres) 6.1.<\/p>\n
Key match statistics: possession 54% to 46%; expected goals 2.97 to 0.43; total shots 18 to 10; shots on target 9 to 1; big chances 7 to 1; passing accuracy 89% to 83%; fouls 7 to 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saka returned and influenced Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Fulham; Gy\u00f6keres with a first-half brace. Strong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1381,969],"tags":[1609,984,826],"class_list":["post-13582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-match-reports","category-premier-league","tag-arsenal-match-report","tag-ben-white","tag-bukayo-saka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}