SAKA? NOT EVEN A SPOT OF DOUBT!

Arteta: Bukayo has no fear over penalties or on-field thuggery

MIKEL ARTETA expects Bukayo Saka to have no fears over World Cup penalties with England – or the growing number of hatchet men targeting him.

The 21-year-old forward is enjoying another fine season with four goals in the Premier League and another in the Europa League.

After facing Wolves tonight, Saka will head to Qatar, 16 months on from being racially abused after missing a penalty for England in the Euros final shootout.

But Arteta (left) fully expects him to step up again, if he is called upon by England head coach Gareth Southgate at any point over the next five weeks. “He’s done it at club level,” said the Gunners boss. “So I’m sure he has the capacity and the ability to do it at international level. “Experiences make you tougher and better, if they don’t get you down too much. I think he reacted in a great way. “The support and recognition he got from world football was great and it helped him develop into a better player.” After being counselled by Southgate and his England staff, tribal rivalries were put aside across the Premier League last year to support Saka in the wake of his appalling treatment at the Euros. Arteta believes it paid a big part in restoring the rising star’s confidence.

“The club in general helped,” he said. “First of all, Gareth, and all the coaching staff with England, were very supportive and good with him.

“That was really important because it was the first period after it. He’s been in every stadium in this country – the way they treat him and the way they show appreciation about him, is great. He needed that.

“He’s embraced it and now he’s a better player because of it. We have talked about that and not only what he’s been through but what is coming, and he’s preparing every day for that.

“If you want to take your game to the next level, you have to have a responsibility to yourself, and that will add pressure from your own standards and as well externally.

“If you want to become that player – and that’s his ambition – you have to deal with it. It’s simple.”

Arsenal legend Ian Wright has expressed concern at the number of players targeting Saka because of his ability to influence matches.

And Arteta added: “There is a part we can do better and we have to be more intelligent. I cannot tell you what.

“It’s with things he needs to do on the pitch from a tactical perspective.

“It’s about the timing, the decisionmaking, the space that you have generated before that action, and the understanding and knowledge of what is going to happen before it happens.

“Listen, let him play, let him do what he is doing. Let the referees do their job and let’s carry on.”