SOARING SOARING ARSENAL
Saka: See! We can win ugly
BUKAYO SAKA hailed Arsenal’s ground-out victory over Bodo/ Glimt as ‘a classic example’ that they know how to win ugly.
The Gunners have been feted for their style of football this season.
And they have been rewarded for it with 11 wins in 12 games to sit top of both the Premier League table and their Europa League group.
Thursday night’s victory in Norway showed how they can still carve out maximum points.
Summit
Saka, who scored the only goal of the midweek game, said: “Thursday was a classic example – we didn’t play our best and we are not so happy with our performance – but we left with the three points. That’s the most important thing and we can be happy.
“It’s a big learning curve, of course, but sometimes you’ve just got to do what it takes to win.”
Saka’s team are looking to extend their stay at the top-flight summit with a win over Leeds this afternoon.
And the fact they are flying so high this season shows the difference a year can make. After nine games last season, they were 10th – although Saka insists the mindset has not changed.
He added: “There isn’t really a difference in mentality in being chased to chasing. I’m just focused on going into every game and trying to win it.
“It’s really early in the season to be thinking about staying top or anyone chasing us. If we continue to win each game, we still stay at the top.”
With this season split in two by the World Cup, the next challenge is to try to be first or second, or as high as possible, by mid-november, when football will decamp to Qatar.
Saka said: “Of course, that’s a challenge that we have to face and we’re going to try to do that.”
Last season, Amazon Prime’s cameras were on everything that went on behind the scenes at the Emirates.
And Saka is adamant there was no extra pressure put on them by camera crews tracking their every move.
He added: “I wouldn’t say there was pressure on the team because of the Amazon cameras.
“Whatever we desire to achieve, that’s the pressure we put on ourselves. Anything on the outside isn’t really going to put extra pressure on us.”