Bukayo Saka’s ‘beautiful moment’ delights Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta hailed a “beautiful moment” after Bukayo Saka marked his return from more than three months out injured with a goal in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Fulham.

The England forward, who had not played since December 21, came off the bench in the 65th minute to a deafening ovation and soon after took the roof off the Emirates Stadium when he headed Gabriel Martinelli’s flick into an empty net to double his side’s lead.

Earlier, Mikel Merino had continued his own fine goalscoring form as his team’s stand-in number nine, opening the scoring with a deflected strike for his fifth goal in eight matches.

Rodrigo Muniz’s goal in stoppage time for Fulham came too late to put the result seriously in doubt.

The edge was taken off Arsenal celebrations however as defenders Gabriel and Jurrien Timber both went off injured. Both will undergo assessment on Wednesday but with a Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid a week away it was a worrying sight.

Nevertheless, Arteta was upbeat following Saka’s explosive return.

“A beautiful moment to see how much our people love, admire and respect Bukayo,” he said. “It’s not a surprise to any of us.

“The best example is his reaction. Immediately after scoring what does he do? He goes and says thank you for all the hard work all the sports science guys and physios have done for him.

Another winning night in N5 ✨

Enjoy the highlights from our 2-1 victory over Fulham