Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko has pleaded with Premier League referees to protect star player Bukayo Saka.
Saka was again one of the stars of the show for the Gunners in their 4-2 comeback win over Aston Villa, bagging a scorching half volley to level the score early on.
The England international didn’t have the easiest afternoon at Villa Park though, hitting out at Philippe Coutinho after some tough tackles.
Only Erling Haaland and Harry Kane have more goal contributions than Saka’s 17 [nine goals, eight assists] in the league this season, while he ranks in the top 10 for number of fouls.
The 21-year-old has been fouled 40 times in 23 games, and Zinchenko is worried defenders are starting to target the unstoppable youngster.
Speaking after the win, Zinchenko said: “Bukayo is an unbelievable player, all the full backs from the other teams know he’s so dangerous, so they try to provoke him, tackle him and the referees should know this.
“We can speak about [Lionel] Messi, Cristiano [Ronaldo], Neymar and players like this. The referees need to protect this kind of player.
“Apart from Bukayo, we have other forward players who are so dangerous and the referees need to be careful, they need to look after them of course.”
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While Zinchenko has given the referees his thoughts, one club legend thinks Saka can also make a difference to his game.
Thierry Henry recently spoke about the Gunners No.7 and told him to show his mean side.
Speaking ahead of a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, Henry said: “There’s so many players that I’m actually looking forward to seeing in that game – but I’m going to have to mention Bukayo Saka..
“Why? Because the way he came back from the Euros, missing that penalty, he never looked back since.
“And I just think that… I just want the team to win and all of that, but I want him to play well in that game, to play well up until the end of the season, and to be the player that can decide games.
“’I said it the other day, I was on Amazon obviously doing the game against West Ham and I said: ‘Big players are not nice. If you wanna be big, if you wanna be the guy… big players are not nice.”’
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