Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina has praised Bukayo Saka’s extraordinary consistency and named the Arsenal forward as the best player in the Premier League.
Saka has enjoyed a barnstorming start to the season for Arsenal, racking up five goals and ten assists in the English top flight, with the north London outfit sitting third after 17 games.
The 23-year-old England international has also been in fine form in the Champions League this term, notching four goals and two assists to put the Gunners in a strong position to qualify for the knockout phase.
However, Saka was forced off with a hamstring injury in Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Crystal Palace last weekend and Mikel Arteta is expected to be without his star attacker for several weeks across an important period of the campaign.
It means the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus will likely have to step up in Saka’s absence in Arsenal’s upcoming matches, starting at home to Ipswich in two days’ time.
A month ago, Saka opened the scoring as Arsenal ran out 3-0 victors over Forest, who have been one of the surprise packages of the Premier League season and sit just one place behind Arteta’s men in the table.
Aina faced off against Saka at the Emirates that day and it’s clear the winger – who also assisted Thomas Partey’s super second-half strike – made a big impression.
Asked whether Manchester City midfielder Rodri is the best player in the Premier League, Aina told the FILTHYFELLAS podcast: ‘I think he’s a sick player.
‘He’s sick and he makes City tick, everyone can see it and he’s won his Ballon d’Or and whatever.
‘But to say the best player in the Premier League… he just does it every game, every game… Saka.’
Aina’s response drew a stunned reaction within the podcast studio – but the Forest full-back doubled down and defended his selection.
The former Chelsea man added: ‘Yeah, Mo Salah is up there, he’s up there! That’s [Saka] one player when I came off the pitch at the Emirates…
‘Mo Salah, fair play, he does he thing, he does his thing. But let’s be honest here, bro, Saka is scoring, he’s doing a mad ting, bro.
‘I played him last season because I was playing left-back and he was a tough opponent. And I’m not just saying that because I know him.’
Arsenal fans will hope to have Saka back fit and firing again as quickly as possible but Arteta admitted it was ‘not looking good’ for the winger when facing the media earlier this week.
‘It’s not looking good. He’s going to be out for many weeks,’ the Arsenal head coach told reporters.
‘It is what it is. He’s injured, we cannot change it. We’re going to use this time now to help him.’
Pressed on whether Saka may have torn something in his hamstring, the Spaniard replied: ‘Yes. Probably there are ways to prevent the injury.
‘There are a lot of factors. We are looking at everything and what we can do differently.’
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