Saka inspires Arsenal to beat Monaco and boost automatic qualification hopes
It would normally be over by now, the Champions League group stage done and dusted and yet there are still two more ties for Arsenal; a test of their physicality, the depth of their reserves as well as their resolve. The idea is to play the extra games in January and make sure they do not have to play two more in the playoff round in February; to zoom straight into the round of 16. It continues to look pretty good.
This was the toughest tie Arsenal had left in the elongated group phase and Mikel Arteta had wanted to make it count. His team did exactly that. Bukayo Saka brought the cutting edge, his opening goal aided and abetted by Myles Lewis-Skelly, assured on a full debut at this rarefied level. When Saka scored his second, it was to kill off a Monaco revival that probably should not have been possible.
