Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has backed Bukayo Saka to provide a positive reaction following his penalty miss against West Ham United on Sunday afternoon.
The north London giants started brilliantly against the Hammers at the London Stadium and they were two goals up after just 10 minutes on the clock.
However, the Hammers were offered a route back into the game. Said Benrahma scored from the penalty spot following a foul by Gabriel Magalhaes in the box.
In the second half, the Gunners had the opportunity to make it 3-1 in their favour but unfortunately, Saka failed to convert his penalty, slashing wide off the mark.
This proved to be costly in the end. With a minute, the Hammers levelled the scores through Jarrod Bowen and they probably deserved a point for their fightback.
Speaking after the game, Arteta was supportive of Saka after his penalty miss and said that the forward now needs to react in the best possible way going forward.
He told Arsenal.com: “The same that the team has to respond because probably if you go three-nil, you’re going to win the match and maybe you win the game for a bigger margin and then we are not discussing about what happened here.”
“So you have to put everything into context. If you are prepared to take responsibility to take penalties. You have to know that in that package the possibility to miss.
“It’s 100% at some stage you are going to miss a penalty and you have to be able to react after that, or you cannot be a penalty taker. Bukayo has been through that and it will go through that again.
“For sure. And you have to be one player to do it. He has to be then, it was a crucial moment. We missed it and this is football.”
Arsenal had the chance to respond after dropping points against Liverpool last weekend. They made the perfect start similar to Anfield but could not bag the all-important third goal.
Saka has been tremendous for the club over the course of the campaign and the Gunners graduate will definitely be disappointed after failing to convert his spot kick.
The England star responded brilliantly following a similar incident in the Euro 2020 final and he will be determined to redeem himself in the upcoming games for Arsenal.
In the aftermath of his penalty miss yesterday, there has been some online abuse and we truly condemn that.
Saka has been superb for Arsenal this term with 23 goal contributions. He let down the team yesterday but the criticism should be constructive rather than exceeding the limit.
