An injury concern for Bukayo Saka has seen Arsenal fans blast that “he never gets protection” from referees.
The England winger was seen hobbling during the second half after being on the end of a heavy challenge from Villa defender Alex Moreno. Saka was caught on his Achilles by Moreno during the first half but was able to carry on after receiving treatment from the Gunners’ medical team.
Saka went down again after half-time and had his ankle strapped up by the Arsenal physios when they came on the pitch to give him treatment for the injury.
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Arsenal fans were left frustrated by the lack of protection being given to Saka by referee Simon Hooper and took to social media to share their views.
One supporter tweeted: “This Saka injury has been coming for weeks. Gets kicked all over the place and is given no protection whatsoever”
Another wrote: “That Saka injury is because he’s kicked every single week while referees do nothing about it. This was coming.”
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A third fan added: “Saka is going to get a bad injury one day and it’s going to be partly down to the officials failing to protect him week after week after week.”
One more also commented: “I’m getting sick of this constant kicking of Saka without punishment. He’s the only player that is allowed to be fouled five times before anything is done. I don’t want a sympathy phone call from PGMOL when he inevitably gets a long term injury.”
Fortunately for the Gunners, he did survive the 90 minutes, but will likely need more treatment ahead of their next game. Saka had earlier equalised for the Gunners, lashing the ball past Emiliano Martinez after a mistake from Tyrone Mings to cancel out Ollie Watkins’ opener.
(Image: AP Photo)
Arsenal fell behind again before half-time, before Oleksandr Zinchenko levelled the score again shortly after the hour mark. A stunning comeback was then completed in stoppage time with Martinez scoring an own goal after Jorginho had hit the bar.
Gabriel Martinelli added a fourth in the dying moments, tapping the ball into an empty net after Martinez had gone forward for a late Villa corner.
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