Joe Cole has heaped praise on Bukayo Saka after the Englishman showed great form again in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over West Brom yesterday.
The Gunners have found the teenager to be one of the most reliable members of their team since he broke into the squad.
He has again impressed for them in this campaign and was in fine form as the Gunners looked to appease their fans against West Brom.
Arsenal was eliminated from the Europa League by Villarreal on Thursday and they needed to bring something positive back to the Emirates when the Baggies came visiting.
They eventually relegated Sam Allardyce’s side with the win and some of their players did well.
It was a game that also saw Willian finally score for the Gunners, but Saka stood out among his teammates and he left an impression on former Chelsea star, Cole.
After the game, Cole told BT Sport via Sun Sports: “[Saka] was excellent.
“He was a thorn in [West Brom’s] side. His movement was fantastic.
“He’s so direct, he drives into areas and picks passes out all the time.
“He was Arsenal’s best player by a mile.”
Saka has been our best player this season by a country mile. So far out in front as our player of the season that he would get IMO, AT LEAST 80% OF ALL GOONER VOTES.
ESR would be my second, with Tierney third, though he’d be higher had he played more often.
Worst player would easily be Willian( by another country mile), with runners up of Bellerin, Auba, Ceballos and Xhaka, though many would disagree with Xhaka, I realise. BUT FOR ME HE IS SO DESPERATELY IMMOBILE AND SLOW.
Tell you what JF- I’m not Xhaka’s biggest fan but we have missed him these last few games. He should never in a million years been played at LB by Arteta. But he would have made us a lot tighter in midfield against Villarreal that for sure
Don’t ever feel you need to explain away your displeasure with Xhaka’s continued presence on our team Jon…he’s been underwhelming since his arrival in North London and should have been sent packing following his armband debacle…he’s the very albatross that prevents this club from pursuing more adventurous tactics, which is why when Tierney replace him on Thursday he didn’t make his usual amount of overlapping runs as he was supposed to be emulating the role that the Swiss sloth would have played if he hadn’t got injured in the pre-game
The main problem with Xhaka is that he genuinely is a key player in this squad. He has some qualities (passing), is willing to play other positions when asked (good team mentality) and is a decent player on his day, but he should never be a major player in this team. Fact is: despite his inconsistency, he’s more reliable than our other options! Just shows how bad things are (and have been for some time)!