Bukayo Saka confirms he was ‘struggling’ to play for Arsenal against Brighton | Football

Bukayo Saka admitted he was playing through the pain barrier and was ‘struggling’ to make Arsenal’s starting line-up for Saturday’s game against Brighton.

The Gunners returned to the top of the Premier League ahead of Liverpool’s heavyweight clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow with a commanding 3-0 victory on the south coast.

Saka, who was forced to pull out of the England squad last month, missed the midweek win over Luton as a precaution, but was back in the starting line-up this evening.

The 22-yeear-old kept his nerve to open the scoring from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute, sending Bart Verbruggen the wrong way.

Arsenal sealed an important three points thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard in the second half and attention will now turn to recovering in time for Tuesday’s Champions League showdown against Bayern Munich.

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‘I was struggling, but as long as I have two legs I will give everything – I want to be on the pitch,’ said the Arsenal winger.

‘Inside we are all buzzing, we know the win takes us back on top [of the league].

‘To come here after playing three days ago, I am really happy for all the boys who put in another performance – we are building momentum.’

It is almost exactly a year since Saka and Arsenal crumbled on the run-in, with their late collapse sparked by the Hale End Academy graduate’s penalty miss at West Ham.

‘Last season was not great to think about,’ Saka added.

‘But, great in terms that we have learned out lesson. In games like this game we needed to put it to bed.

‘Last season we were conceding late goals and having to defend – then the fans were on top of us.

‘This year we are more comfortable and I think the team is better. I feel like we are ready for each game to win.’

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