Bukayo Saka
Bukayo Saka
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Attackers who reach the penalty area regularly still need the right approach once they arrive. Calculating a seasonal total in October can limit the aggression required in each individual game. Managers who want higher output often focus on the volume of chances rather than a fixed end-of-year number.
Wide players who can finish from close range or from distance create problems for opposing defences. When those same players also arrive for tap-ins and one-touch finishes, the opponent cannot predict where the threat will come from. Maintaining that variety becomes easier when the mindset is set on scoring in every match.
European fixtures provide a clear stage for those improvements to show. A home night in the Champions League league phase allows the attacking unit to test whether increased volume translates into more goals. The conversation around individual targets usually intensifies in the days before such games.
Mikel Arteta has told Bukayo Saka he should target “two or three” goals per game if he wants to take his performance to the next level. The comments came ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League match against Lille at the Emirates.
Saka has scored 84 goals and provided 81 assists in 320 appearances for Arsenal since his debut in November 2018. He is the club’s leading Premier League scorer this season with three goals in six games, following 11 goals in 49 matches last term. His best season remains 2023-24, when he scored 20 times in 47 appearances.
Speaking about the winger, Arteta said: “I think the numbers should go to score two or three per game. That’s it. That’s the mindset. And then if you score one, so be it, you score two, so be it, because he has the ability to score in many ways. But normally, if you go to all the attackers, and that’s the way, I think you have to attack something. Because if you go ’20, OK, now we are in October, I still have eight months to score 17 more goals.’ That’s not the mindset, that’s not going to take you there.”
Arteta added that Saka has already been getting into strong positions. “That is where we need to get him. If he misses the chance, so be it. At the end, the more volume we generate, the bigger the probability of him scoring more goals. He has been getting in great positions, getting shots, getting one-touch finishes and tap-ins. That is the kind of unpredictability we have with that player, otherwise we know how the opponent is going to defend him.
“He is doing well. He could have had another four or five goals by now, easily, but if he continues like that, we know [he will score more]. When he talks about scoring a certain amount of goals, he needs to be thinking about scoring a certain amount of goals per game. If that shifts, that mentality, he will get into those positions and score more goals.”
All three of Saka’s Premier League goals this season have come from inside the box, including one penalty and two close-range finishes. He also scored twice for England in a 7-0 Nations League win over Croatia earlier this month, both from central positions. He has missed clear chances against Napoli, Sunderland and Leeds in recent weeks.
Arsenal won 1-0 away to Napoli on Matchday 1 of the Champions League and now host Lille. Saka will be looking for his first goal of the European campaign. Arteta’s remarks make clear that the club wants the winger to maintain a high volume of attempts rather than managing a seasonal target.
The shift in mindset is presented as the route to more consistent goalscoring. Arsenal’s attacking players are being encouraged to treat every match as an opportunity for multiple goals. Tuesday’s fixture against Lille offers the next chance for that approach to be tested.