Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring against Fulham.Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring against Fulham.
Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring against Fulham. | Getty Images
Premier League stars from across the country were on hand to congratulate Arsenal star Bukayo Saka on Tuesday night.
Bukayo Saka celebrated his long-awaited return Arsenal return with a goal just six minutes and 36 seconds after entering the field of play against Fulham on Tuesday night.
The England international helped Mikel Arteta’s side to a 2-1 win over the Cottagers, who found a consolation goal in injury time through Rodrigo Muniz. Mikel Merino opened the scoring for the Gunners in the first half before Saka found a second after the break.
The starboy saw his first minutes since limping off with a hamstring injury against Crystal Palace in December. Saka’s return comes at a vital moment for the club with a Champions League quarter final against Real Madrid on the horizon.
Fulham and Man Utd stars react to Bukayo Saka return
Taking to social media after the match, Saka celebrated his return and goal with a post on Instagram. He wrote: “...like we never left. Thank you.”
The post had racked up nearly 500,000 likes by Wednesday lunchtime with over 13,000 comments flooding in to congratulate the Arsenal star. Many of those came from teammates with Merino, Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber sharing messages of support.
Arsenal star Reiss Nelson, who is on loan at Fulham this season but missed out of the clash with an injury, was also in the comments. In a light-hearted message showing his conflicted feelings, he wrote: “Yuck.”
Former Gunners man Eddie Nketiah, who is now at Crystal Palace, labelled the prolific Saka as a ‘greedy guy’ while Manchester United winger Anthony Elanga wrote, “He’s backkkkkk!!!!!”.
Mikel Arteta praises Saka’s Arsenal impact
Reflecting on Saka’s return after the win, Arteta said: “It was a beautiful reaction from our people to show him that love, respect and admiration and he fully deserves. His reaction straight away after scoring was to say thank you to all the sports scientists, physios and everyone who has participated in his recovery. It tells you who he is as a person, so it's impossible not to love him.
“He's trained with us for the last nine days, and he’s been impressive straight away. The problem that we put for him was very demanding by respecting the timeframes because we knew that the moment that we throw him in, he needs to be ready because it's the most important part of the season, so, I'm really pleased with that.”
There was also praise from teammate Declan Rice, who shared his excitement at having Saka back when speaking to Sky Sports. He said: “I think it’s a beautiful moment to see how much our people love, respect and admire Bukayo.
“Immediately after scoring a goal, what does he do? He goes and says thank you for all the hard work that all the sports science guys, physios and everybody involved in the recovery have done for him to be in the condition that he is.
“I think he lifted the stadium, the energy and it’s great to have him back. When the stadium is right behind the team and is showing signs of love and support and encouragement to players individually, I think that lifts the whole place. It’s exactly what we need.”
In other news, this is how Arsenal’s final eight fixtures of the season compare to Liverpool with a win over Fulham closing the gap.
Related topics:ArsenalDeclan RiceMikel ArtetaBukayo Saka
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