Arteta Reveals Saka Among Seven Arsenal Players In Contention For Midfield Roles Against Man City

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has suggested that Bukayo Saka is among seven players in contention for midfield roles when his side take on Manchester City in the semifinal of the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, July 18.

Should Saka get the nod to play in midfield, the Spanish football tactician has stressed that the Hale End Academy product won't look out of sorts as he has played as an attacking midfielder several times.

Dani Ceballos, Lucas Torreira, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Joe Willock, Matteo Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka are the other players Arteta namechecked as he discussed about controlling the midfield against City.

Saka has emerged as a versatile player for Arsenal in his breakout season, playing as a left-back, left winger, left wing-back, right winger and left midfielder, and has excelled in all the positions.

"It’s about building relationships and the different qualities that the team needs. [Granit and Dani] have been doing really well but we have played with many different ones; Lucas has played there, Matteo has played in that position, Ainsley and Joe have played in those positions too in the pocket, Bukayo has played as an attacking midfielder many games in this position as well.

"So we have players to adapt to different ways of playing and that’s good," Arteta said to arsenal.com.

Saka has become undroppable for Arsenal since the restart as he has been involved in all their matches with the exception of the 4-0 win against Norwich City.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal.com