Garth Crooks has lavished praise on Bukayo Saka after the forward helped to inspire Arsenal to their thrilling comeback win against Aston Villa on Saturday.
The England international has been one of the Gunners’ key players this season and the 21-year-old netted the visitors’ first goal at Villa Park with a superb strike.
Saka has now scored nine goals and made eight assists in 23 Premier League games for the north London side this season to help them top the table.
And Crooks was full of praise for the young attacker as he named him in his team of the week following Saturday’s victory for the Gunners.
Writing in his column for BBC Sport, Crooks said: “Arsenal are not just looking like champions, they are playing like champions. Having lost to City in midweek – a defeat Tottenham and Chelsea fans enjoyed immensely – and come back from behind, not once but twice, away from home is the stuff of champions. The man at the heart of these quite outstanding performances is Saka.
“Like Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne, I’m running out of superlatives for this player – his equaliser against Villa was top class.
“He then went on to terrorise their defence, while the entire home team targeted Saka with the rough stuff and Villa fans booed him. Yet none of it made the slightest difference to what was a superb performance by one of the best players in the country.”
Saturday’s win lifted Arsenal back to the top of the table, with Manchester City two points behind the Gunners following the Citizens’ draw against Nottingham Forest.
Next up for the Gunners is a trip to face Leicester City on Saturday afternoon as Mikel Arteta’s men look to continue to lead the way at the top of the division.
Former England and Newcastle United star Alan Shearer feels that Arsenal have what it takes to go all the way and win the Premier League title for the first time since 2004.
Speaking on BBC’s Match of the Day over the weekend, Shearer said: “I know Thomas Partey is out injury at the moment, but if Arsenal can get him back and then have a little bit of luck between now and the end of the season with keeping their key players fit, I think they will do it, I really do.
“Based on the second half [at Villa], Arsenal deserved the three points today. But they didn’t just get the win, they sent a message out to Manchester City too. Sometimes you just need to find a way to win and they did that in the second half.
“When you look back at the game against Man City [Arsenal lost 3-1], they made two huge errors and got punished for them. They missed some big chances as well and that was the difference between the teams.”