Bukayo Saka won Man of the Match in the League Cup win over Leicester City on Wednesday night, giving Mikel Arteta a decision to make for Liverpool.
Bukayo Saka won Arsenal’s Man of the Match award in midweek, but he doesn’t have any guarantees of a start against Liverpool on Monday.
Following his performance against Leicester City, 42% of the fans voted for Saka in Arsenal’s post-match poll. That made him the clear winner, with Reiss Nelson in second on 20.4%.
Saka put in a particularly impressive first-half performance, one which probably should have led to a couple of goals. Firstly, the referee waved away a blatant penalty for a foul on the youngster. VAR certainly would’ve given it, but it wasn’t available.
Then there was one lovely piece of play on the left that just needed a touch on Saka’s cross.
— Billy (@Billyinho7) September 23, 2020
Throughout the match, Saka’s clever passes and touches kept the team moving forward. Let’s not forget how well he played last time out either, playing a key role in both goals against West Ham.
The dilemma comes from the fact Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been performing so well at left-wing-back in the big games. The 23-year-old started there in all three of the most recent wins over Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Arteta can only start one of them at Anfield on Monday. Hector Bellerin will start on the right, and he deserves to. Saka is unlikely to displace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Willian/Nicolas Pepe in the front three.
Personally, I think Maitland-Niles is still the favourite. As well as Saka is playing, his former academy teammate looks more confident in the individual defensive duels. But it’s a tricky one for Arteta.