Mikel Arteta has confirmed he wanted to rest Bukayo Saka after the winger was replaced at half-time in Arsenal’s win over Fulham.
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.
Saka missed a run of five games following the March international break due to an Achilles problem.
He was back on the bench against Newcastle United last week and again against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League midweek.
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.
With his side cruising at half-time, Arteta replaced Saka at the break with Noni Madueke onto replace him.
And speaking after the game, the Arsenal boss confirmed there was no fresh injury concern, with the substitution made to ‘protect’ his no7.
Get personalised football updates every day
Sign up to our daily football newsletter and choose your team to get the latest news, rumours and more about your favourite team.
‘He certainly made a difference, he made two actions that decided the game,’ Arteta said in his post-match press conference.
‘He’s 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.
‘We have to [protect him]. We need to ramp up his load but we need to be careful.’
Saka created his side’s opening goal after nine minutes.
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.
The Sweden international returned the favour five minutes before the break.
Holding the ball up and drawing in two Fulham players, he found Saka who beat Bernd Leno with a precise finish.
With three points wrapped up, Arteta brought off Gyokeres just after the hour mark with Gabriel Jesus replacing him.
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.