Jason Cundy has claimed that Bukayo Saka has had to sacrifice some of his potency going forward because of his defensive duties in Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team.
Arsenal escaped with a 0-0 draw against Atalanta on Thursday night with David Raya producing the heroics between the sticks to deny the Italian team in Bergamo.
The Gunners attacking line has come under fire for a poor performance and they have been slammed for an abysmal showing going forward at the Gewiss Stadium.
Saka looked off-colour and could not create the chances that Arsenal would have needed to win the game in Bergamo on Thursday night.
The winger has come under fire for the performance but Cundy is keen to deflect all the criticism from the England winger.
Cundy insists Bukayo Saka has sacrificed going forward to do his defensive duties
The former Chelsea star pointed out that Saka has been regularly called upon to help out the Arsenal defence, making the Gunners one of the best defensive sides in the Premier League.
He pointed out that an attacking player cannot shy away from doing their defensive duties if they want to be in Arteta’s Arsenal team.
Cundy believes Saka has had to sacrifice some of his attacking potency to make sure he helps out the Arsenal full-backs the other way but conceded that he will have to be more consistent to become one of the best in the world.
“Saka has got two jobs in that team”, Cundy said on talkSPORT.
“If you don’t work hard going the other way, you are not getting into Arteta’s team.
“You have to do your responsibilities defensively and if you don’t, they don’t care how good you are so Saka had to sacrifice little bit about going forward.
“Saka has proven over the last two or three seasons what he has under the bonnet.
“But the best players will do it consistently in most weeks and that’s what he has got to do.”
