Bukayo Saka was, by some distance, the best player in the Premier League for Gameweek Seven this past weekend.
Arsenal beat Southampton on Saturday, coming back to win 3-1 after going a goal down, and Saka played a part in every Gunners goal with a strike of his own plus two assists.
When it came to excitement, no game matched Brentford versus Wolves as that finished 5-3 to the home side which earned a 10.0 Match Excitement Rating on Football Critic.
Southampton actually took the lead in the second half in the game at the Emirates but Saka hauled the Gunners over the line with a sparkling last 30 minutes or so. He set up the equaliser with a threaded pass through the middle for Kai Havertz to score, then curled a beautiful cross to the back post for Gabriel Martinelli to stab home.
Saka then made sure the Saints could not mount a comeback by netting a deserved goal of his own, latching on to a loose ball inside the opposition box to finish with a right-footed strike across goal into the bottom left corner.
He was always the biggest threat for Arsenal and caused mayhem with his signature dip of the shoulder inside onto that left foot.
He sent 30 passes into dangerous areas in the final third which was more than anyone else on the pitch and sent 11 crosses into the box which was nearly treble the amount of anyone else.
Who else made the Team of the Week?
Another brilliant performer was Mateo Kovacic (9.3) of Man City, who emerged as the unlikely match winner for the defending Premier League champions as he scored two to give his side a narrow 3-2 win at home to Leicester.
He was in the top five for the most amount of touches (100) and most amount of balls sent into the final third (33).
It has taken a while for Jarrod Bowen (8.5) to find his form for West Ham this season but he looked like the Bowen of last season this weekend as he scored one and set up another in the Hammers’ 4-1 win at home to Ipswich.
Only two players this weekend recorded two or more assists and that…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/news/premier-league-team-of-the-week-gameweek-7-saka-stars-for-the-gunners/5862
Author : editors@footballcritic.com (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-10-07 10:28:57
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