Arsenal beat Lille 3-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday evening and Bukayo Saka looked determined to send a message to his biggest critics.
Bukayo Saka wasted little time in silencing David O’Leary’s criticism as Arsenal cruised to a 3-0 win over Lille on Tuesday night.
The Englishman caught the eye of the former Gunners captain at the weekend despite being part of Mikel Arteta’s side in their 2-1 win over Leeds United.
Riccardo Calafiori and Bruno Guimaraes quickly responded to James Justin’s second-half opener to secure all three points to keep the pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester City.
But O’Leary was unimpressed with Saka’s form in the Emirates Stadium clash. Speaking to TalkSPORT, the 68-year-old said: “To be honest, I don’t think he is. [in top form].
“I like the guy a lot, but I think one thing is that when everyone sees him grow up and get into the team without knowing how good he is, he’s going down a lot now.
“I think he’s looking for that touch to go down and the player I’ve seen before that was more positive, he wouldn’t let a defender put him on the deck or somebody else.”
He added: “He’s definitely not the player he was. He’s still the best player, but the player who got this fantastic new contract with Arsenal to make him one of the highest-paid players in the country? I don’t think so at the moment.
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“I don’t know what’s going on. But looking at the team and how it’s progressed, who’s playing well and how big Declan Rice was yesterday, I think Saka needs to step up again.”
Saka quickly proved his doubters wrong, coming on for Noni Madueke in the 65th minute and making an immediate impact, becoming the cornerstone of Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Lille on Tuesday night.
The Timbers had opened the scoring for the hosts moments earlier when Saka burst down the right before whipping the ball hard and low into the Lille area.
From there, Eberechi Eze ran onto it and slotted it past Berke Ozer to make it 2-0.
Closing out the star-studded display, Saka then casually shrugged off his celebration before curling a close-range effort at the far post to keep all three points in north London.
Thanks to two wins from two Champions League games, “Arsenal” is in third place in the league table. Arteta will now turn his attention to the Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest on Sunday, October 18, before the Gunners travel to the Allianz Arena to play Bayern Munich in their next European adventure on Wednesday, October 21.