Gabriel Martinelli has hailed Arsenal teammate Bukayo Saka as ‘one of the best players in the world’ after he continued his superb form in the Premier League win over Southampton.
Saka put what had developed into a potential banana skin to bed with Arsenal’s third goal in a 3-1 win against Southampton at the Emirates Stadium.
The England winger also provided the assists for Kai Havertz and Martinelli after winless Southampton took a shock lead after half-time through Cameron Archer.
Saka already has three goals and seven assists this season and Martinelli is in no doubt that he is now ‘one of the best’ in the world.
Seven assists in the Premier League puts Saka three above any other player, while he also surpassed Robert Pires’ tally of 41 assists for the Gunners in the Southampton win.
‘He’s unbelievable, and one of the best players in the world right now,’ Martinelli said of Saka.
‘He’s a really nice guy as well so we’re really happy to have him here as one of the captains.
‘It was an unbelievable ball from Bukayo and I was there to score. It was a really good moment for me and a nice goal.’
By coming from behind to beat Southampton, Arsenal maintained their unbeaten start to the season and stayed third in the Premier League, one point behind early leaders Liverpool.
Assessing Arsenal’s performance against struggling Saints, manager Mikel Arteta said: ‘The start was exceptional, the dominance, the chances. It was unbelievable not to go one, two, three goals up.
‘We conceded the goal and then it was game on. I thought the team reacted with a lot of authority and I am happy the team can react like this – but not happy after the chances we had that we had to go through that.
‘The substitutes changed the energy and also the feel in the crowd. We won in the end and I think we deserved it.
‘The way we started was phenomenal but we didn’t get our reward. We had a difficult context at 1-0 but we did it.’
Arteta singled out Havertz for praise after he netted his fourth goal in seven Premier League games.
‘He’s really hungry, such an intelligent player, he is so focused to achieve what he wants and was exceptional again,’ Arteta added.
‘We lost so many players last international break, [it is a] very difficult schedule but this team finds a way. [It is a] good platform to continue the season.’
Following the international break Arsenal visit Bournemouth, who have largely impressed this season but suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Leicester City on Saturday.
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