Gary Lineker thinks one Arsenal star may have just hit a turning point

Mikel Arteta has given Bukayo Saka a clear instruction this season: get closer to goal and score more.

It’s been working, too. He’s Arsenal’s top scorer in the Premier League with three goals from six games, his best start to a league season, including the winner at Villa Park, and all five of his open-play goals this season for club and country have been close-range finishes.

He’s not been at his best in other areas, though. His creative numbers are down, he’s arguably lost some of his burst of pace, and his decision-making in the final third has frustrated fans at times. But that comes with the new role. He’s averaging nearly three shots per Premier League game, and Arteta has made it clear that he wants even more.

He started on the bench against Lille, but within six minutes of coming on, he’d set up Arsenal’s second goal and scored the third himself.

Reviewing the game on The Rest Is Football, Gary Lineker suggested that cameo could prove to be a big moment for Bukayo Saka.

“He came on and instantly had a goal and assist, and I think that won’t do him any harm,” Lineker said. “I mean, I know he’s a really good footballer anyway, but all players, we have a dip at some point in our careers. You have a little difficult spell and you’ve got to come through it.

“Might be a little bit of a turning point. I don’t know, because confidence is everything, isn’t it? And you just do something like that, and it’s a really cool finish, and you think to yourself, ‘Ah, that’s the Saka we know.’”

Alan Shearer agreed, and thinks not starting might have done Saka some good. “It might do him the world of good as not starting, then coming on and scoring and getting the assist,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he were to get another one at the weekend.”

The Lille goal was his fourth of the season and his 14th in the Champions League, and in that competition he’s now scoring at 0.45 goals per game, the same rate as Thierry Henry managed for Arsenal. Hopefully he can keep the goals coming, starting against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.