{"id":8900,"date":"2026-05-03T04:47:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T04:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=8900"},"modified":"2026-05-03T04:47:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T04:47:53","slug":"mikel-arteta-explains-why-bukayo-saka-came-off-at-half-time-against-fulham-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=8900","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta explains why Bukayo Saka came off at half-time against Fulham | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\t\t\"Arsenal\t<\/div>
Saka was back on the score sheet against the Cottagers (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mikel Arteta has confirmed he wanted 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 at the summit of the Premier League again with Manchester City not in action until Monday.<\/p>\n

Saka missed a run of five games following the March international break due to an Achilles problem.<\/p>\n

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

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

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

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

\n
\n\t\t\"Arsenal\t<\/div>
Saka and Gyokeres punished Fulham in the first-half (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

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

\u2018We have to [protect him]. We need to ramp up his load but we need to 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 on hand.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Arsenal\t<\/div>
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<\/svg>MORE: Martin Odegaard injury latest as Arsenal captain misses win vs Fulham<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: \u2018Different team\u2019 \u2013 Jack Wilshere urges Mikel Arteta to start Arsenal star against Fulham<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tComment now<\/title>\n<\/svg><\/span>
\n\t\t\tComments<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<\/svg><\/span>
\n\t\t\t\tAdd as preferred source<\/span>
\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Mikel Arteta explains why Bukayo Saka came off at half-time against Fulham | Football
\n
#Mikel #Arteta #explains #Bukayo #Saka #halftime #Fulham #Football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saka was back on the score sheet against the Cottagers (Picture: Getty) Mikel Arteta has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[673,694,1784,317,1429,4408,672,695],"class_list":["post-8900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-arteta","tag-bukayo","tag-explains","tag-football","tag-fulham","tag-halftime","tag-mikel","tag-saka"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052-768x403.jpg",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052-1024x538.jpg",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052.jpg",1200,630,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052-1024x538.jpg",1024,538,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274176752_1777749052-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}