The England forward, Bukayo Saka was out of play since December 21, came off the bench in the 65th minute and took the Emirates Stadium by the horn when he headed Gabriel Martinelli’s flick into an empty net to double his side’s lead.
Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta was overwhelmed following Saka’s explosive return as he hailed “beautiful moment”
“A beautiful moment to see how much our people love, admire and respect Bukayo,” he said. “It’s not a surprise to any of us.
“The best example is his reaction. Immediately after scoring what does he do? He goes and says thank you for all the hard work all the sports science guys and physios have done for him.
“He lifted the stadium, the energy. It’s great to have him back.
Mikel Arteta appreciates all Arsenal stans after their victory over Fulham and their continuous support of the club.
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“He was very positive (after the match). The first one (back) is always the one, ‘How am I going to feel?’ He dealt with it really well.
“The downside to it is Gabby and Jurrien. We don’t know how they are going to be. We will be assessing them tomorrow and understand better where we are with those two.”
Gabriel leaped off the pitch with a hamstring injury in the 16th minute, and Jakub Kiwior came on. Timber, who needed treatment during the first half but played on, was eventually withdrawn 13 minutes from the end.
Though the game ended in Arsenal’s favour, Arteta faces serious challenge with his defense team coupled with the absence of Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori who has seen his team’s season badly disrupted by injury.
“The good thing is that it’s been like this the whole season,” said Arteta. “Martinelli we missed three months, we missed Bukayo four months, Kai (Havertz) four months, (Gabriel) Jesus almost the whole season.
“How we have managed to be where we are, with all those injuries…
“You can imagine, we lose four players in the defensive line in one week; Calafiori, Ben White, Jurrien, and Gabriel. We still have another four, they are so bloody willing, they will do the job.”
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Fulham coach, Marco Silva also had what to say concerning their push for Europe.
“We lost tonight, but we didn’t lose the season,” he said. “We lost three points, and we were not able to get points tonight.
“We are going to fight really hard because we have another big game on Sunday to try to get it right again and to bounce back.”
