Saka has had at least one direct goal involvement in every game he’s played for us this season except for the 1-0 win at Palace.
He’s had a total of 12 direct goal involvements which represents 52% of the goals Arsenal have scored in games featuring Saka and 57% of the goals Arsenal have scored while Saka was on the pitch (2 goals - against PSV and Bournemouth - were scored after Saka had been subbed off with Arsenal already leading 3-0).
The two games he didn’t play were both 1-0 wins (Brentford in the League Cup and Man City), so Saka has been directly involved in 48% of Arsenal’s total goals this season, including those scored in games he didn’t play.
Personally, I don’t think this is because of anything Saka is doing. He’s been playing very well, as usual, but the fact Arsenal are depending on him so heavily for goal contributions reflects the fact that our other attacking players have been much less dangerous than we would like.
What needs to be done to remove this burden from Saka and ensure we don’t become a one-man attacking team?
No one batted an eye lid when Messi was doing it week in week out. Now, I’m not comparing him to Messi, but I think we should start normalising how good some of our players actually are.
If he were as good as Messi and could regularly put up 40+ goal contributions a season then I wouldn’t have any concerns about Arsenal relying on him heavily. But that’s a big “if”