{"id":328218,"date":"2026-05-03T00:59:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T19:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=328218"},"modified":"2026-05-03T00:59:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T19:29:54","slug":"mikel-arteta-explains-why-bukayo-saka-got-here-off-at-half-time-against-fulham-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/03\/mikel-arteta-explains-why-bukayo-saka-got-here-off-at-half-time-against-fulham-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta explains why Bukayo Saka got here off at half-time against Fulham | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Saka was back on the rating sheet against the Cottagers (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mikel Arteta has confirmed he desired to rest Bukayo Saka after the winger was replaced at half-time in Arsenal\u2019s win over Fulham. <\/p>\n

The Gunners sealed an emphatic 3-0 victory over the Cottagers on Saturday night, moving six points clear on the summit of the Premier League again with Manchester City not in motion until Monday.<\/p>\n

Saka missed a run of 5 games following the March international break on account of an Achilles problem.<\/p>\n

He was back on the bench against Newcastle United last week and again against Atletico Madrid within the Champions League midweek.<\/p>\n

He began his first game because the Carabao Cup final against City tonight, looking back to his old self after delivering an electrical first-half performance.<\/p>\n

Along with his side cruising at half-time, Arteta replaced Saka on the break with Noni Madueke onto replace him.<\/p>\n

And speaking after the sport, the Arsenal boss confirmed there was no fresh injury concern, with the substitution made to \u2018protect\u2019 his no7.<\/p>\n

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Saka and Gyokeres punished Fulham within the first-half (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018He definitely made a difference, he made two actions that decided the sport,\u2019 Arteta said in his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n

\u2018He\u2019s come back in crucial a part of the season. He’s fresh, his hunger is fresh. I feel he needed a performance like that.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now we have to [protect him]. We want to ramp up his load but we should be careful.\u2019<\/p>\n

Saka created his side\u2019s opening goal after nine minutes. <\/p>\n

Finding himself up against Raul Jimenez, he left the striker on his backside before sending the ball across the face of goal where Viktor Gyokeres was available.<\/p>\n

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Gyokeres provided the assist for Saka\u2019s goal (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sweden international returned the favour five minutes before the break. <\/p>\n

Holding the ball up and drawing in two Fulham players, he found Saka who beat Bernd Leno with a precise finish. <\/p>\n

With three points wrapped up, Arteta brought off Gyokeres just after the hour mark with Gabriel Jesus replacing him.<\/p>\n

Declan Rice joined him with Eberechi Eze also replaced after 78 minutes with focus now firmly on that second leg clash with Atletico on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Martin Odegaard injury latest as Arsenal captain misses win vs Fulham<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Jamie Carragher makes Man Utd vs Liverpool prediction ahead of Premier League clash<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: \u2018Different team\u2019 \u2013 Jack Wilshere urges Mikel Arteta to begin Arsenal star against Fulham<\/span><\/p>\n

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Saka was back on the rating sheet against the Cottagers (Picture: Getty) Mikel Arteta has confirmed he desired to rest Bukayo Saka after the winger was replaced at half-time in Arsenal\u2019s win over Fulham. The Gunners sealed an emphatic 3-0 victory over the Cottagers on Saturday night, moving six points clear on the summit of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":328219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20686],"tags":[2604,7451,2704,5479,7521,6105,2603,7452],"class_list":["post-328218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-arteta","tag-bukayo","tag-explains","tag-football","tag-fulham","tag-halftime","tag-mikel","tag-saka"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328218"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328221,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328218\/revisions\/328221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}