Arsenal’s recent resurgence continued with a 5-2 win over West Ham United on Saturday.
Bukayo Saka (£10.3m) played a part in four of the five goals, recording his joint-highest Fantasy Premier League (FPL) score – ever.
Continuing our Gameweek 13 Scout Notes, we reflect on the first-half chaos at the London Stadium. As is often the case, we start with injuries.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 13 round-up: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Mitoma goal, Pedro blank + Saints costly yellow cards
GABRIEL, SAKA AND CALAFIORI FITNESS UPDATES
The Gunners’ latest five-goal win didn’t come without a scare or two.
Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m) and Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) were both taken off early, while Saka looked in some distress and required physio attention on the hour.
Saka is of the least concern. He continued after a bit of treatment and without any obvious signs of discomfort before being hooked, along with Martin Odegaard (£8.3m), 15 minutes later. Preservation for Manchester United on Wednesday, perhaps.
Mikel Arteta killed any lingering worries in his post-match press conference.
“He’s fine. He’s fine. No problem.” – Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka
As for Gabriel, he was clobbered by Lukasz Fabianski (£4.1m) for the second of Arsenal’s two penalty awards. That came in first-half stoppage time and he failed to reappear after the interval.
But crucially, his withdrawal was not a concussion substitution. Rather, as was the case with Calafiori’s 56th-minute removal, it was linked to a previous niggle.
“It was related to the previous injury that he had in Lisbon and obviously he did great to be part of that but with that result and with the niggle that he’s feeling, we decided to take him off.” – Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Magalhaes’ substitution
“Well, he’s been with little niggles in the last few weeks. Obviously he had a very serious knee injury and he’s doing really well, but we have to manage his minutes and today we have to do the same.” – Mikel Arteta on Riccardo Calafiori’s substitution
Reassurance from Arteta, then. The Arsenal boss even hinted in an interview with the BBC that the subs were pre-planned.
“We knew before the game that we were going to make some subs because of the state of certain players but we had to manage that.
“Jakub [Kiwior] came in, Oleks [Zinchenko] came in and did really well as well, Jorginho I think he was exceptional – Thomas [Partey] was out, we bring in another player and he delivers what he’s done again.” – Mikel Arteta
Elsewhere on the fitness front, Mikel Merino (£6.0m) and Thomas Partey (£5.0m) missed out with knee and muscular issues respectively.
ANOTHER PENALTY JOBSHARE
Saka had taken the last four Premier League penalties for Arsenal before Saturday. He also scored against Sporting in midweek, with Odegaard on the field.
But, as demonstrated last season, the England winger isn’t averse to letting someone else have a go now and again.
Odegaard took one with Saka on the field in August 2023. A month later, Odegaard and Kai Havertz (£7.9m) scored from 12 yards in the same fixture – again with Saka present.
That benevolence reared its head at the London Stadium, with Saka handing the ball to his Norwegian buddy for the Gunners’ first penalty despite winning it himself. Saka was at least to get his own chance from the spot when Gabriel was felled.
“Martin’s a top player, he’s been playing so good since he’s come back. He wanted to take the penalty to score today and I’m more than happy to give him the ball because he always gives me the ball. We have a good connection and, like I said, let’s just keep this form going.” – Bukayo Saka
SAKA’S JOINT-HIGHEST EVER SCORE
| Opponent | Gameweek | Score |
| =1. v West Ham United (a) | GW13, 2024/25 | 18 |
| =1. v Crystal Palace (h) | GW28, 2022/23 | 18 |
| =3. v Southampton (h) | GW7, 2024/25 | 16 |
| =3. v Norwich City (a) | GW19, 2021/22 | 16 |
Saka perhaps isn’t renowned for his explosivity in FPL. His 29 returns last season were spread over 24 matches. On ‘only’ four occasions did he go beyond 10 points.
What he does do is offer different routes to points, all of which were on display in east London.
Assist potential from set plays? Saka’s corner was converted by Gabriel for the opener. Assist potential from open play? He squared for Leandro Trossard (£6.8m) here to make it 2-0. Penalty taking? After passing up the first spot-kick, Saka scored the second.
All that was missing was an open-play goal. Even that nearly arrived after 21 minutes when he curled narrowly wide.
We’ve written at length in the last week (first after the Forest win, then after the Sporting success) about the importance of Odegaard – not just to Arsenal’s cause but to Saka down the right. We won’t retread old ground but it’s difficult to imagine anyone but Odegaard supplying the chipped pass to Saka for Trossard’s goal.
Keep him and other key cogs fit, and there are going to be more hauls to be had in this upcoming run:
As for the one goal Saka wasn’t involved in, Trossard released a peach of a pass for Havertz to fire in. That’s back-to-back goals for the German (in all competitions) and his first in the league since Gameweek 7.
HAMMERS HAMMERED
It wasn’t a completely satisfactory afternoon for Arsenal, with the clean sheet spoiled. A lapse in concentration at 4-0 up, perhaps, to allow Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.4m) to ghost in and score.
After no league goals in nearly four years, it’s two in two for Wan-Bissaka.
It’s not a complete fluke, as Julen Lopetegui has tasked him with more attacking responsibility than he’s previously been used to. Both full-backs have been pushed very high this season.
Emerson Palmieri‘s (£4.4m) own strike was nothing to do with open-play threat. This was a peach of a free-kick from distance.
Other than the two goals, which came out of nothing, there was little to celebrate.
Fabianski owners will be hoping he doesn’t pay the price for the five-goal defeat. He was only really responsible for one of them – the fifth. After punching Gabriel in the head, the veteran Pole failed to keep out Saka’s soft-ish penalty. Perhaps he could have come out sooner for Havertz’s one-on-one goal, too, but it would be harsh if he carries the can for this loss.
Easier tests await Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m) – who was anonymous here – and co now:
It’s a significant run, Gameweek 17 aside, as the Hammers have been flat-track bullies this season:
| P | W | D | L | F | A | CS | |
| Record v top nine | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 21 | 0 |
| Record v 10th and below | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 3 |
