26 March 2023 , 19:41
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Arsenal fans have taken to social media in their droves to express their fury over Gareth Southgate's decision to play Bukayo Saka for the full 90 minutes for England against Ukraine.
The Three Lions welcomed Ukraine to Wembley on Sunday evening and Saka was at his brilliant best, creating the opener for Harry Kane before firing home a glorious curling effort from outside the area. However, there were parts of the game where Gunners boss Mikel Arteta may have been watching from behind his hands in fear.
On two occasions in the first half alone, Saka was left writhing around in agony after coming off worse in a number of challenges. Having played 84 minutes against Italy on Thursday, the Arsenal faithful would have expected Saka to be given a rest at some point this time around.
In actual fact, the Gunners winger was the only one of England's starting attackers to actually play every minute of the game. All three of Kane, James Maddison and Jude Bellingham were withdrawn before the full-time whistle, but Saka went the distance.
As a result, plenty of angry Arsenal supporters made their feelings on the situation clear. One user wrote on twitter: "Southgate running Saka into the ground. Shameful," while another added: "Saka 90mins again? Southgate is an enemy."
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One fan made the claim that if Saka played for another club, Southgate may have taken more care when it comes to distributing his minutes.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Southgate have taken Saka off before the full-time whistle? Comment below
Bukayo Saka netted England's second with a stunner (Getty Images)"Look how Gareth Southgate is stressing Bukayo Saka," he explained. "Knowing he’s Arsenal key man for the League!! - I’m 100% if Saka plays for Liverpool or Manchester United.. Southgate will rest him. All of them don’t want Arsenal to win the League. ALL."
Not all of the criticism was focused entirely on Southgate jeopardising Saka's fitness, as one fan posted: "I’m not even that worried about Saka playing 90 in both games.
"He’s incredibly fit and manages his output so well these days. It’s just Southgate taking the p*** with his refusal to shake things up when England are in cruise control."
In further unwelcome news for Arteta and the Arsenal fanbase, Saka wasn't the only Gunners player to play the full 90 minutes at Wembley.
Left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko also completed the entire game for Ukraine, though thankfully for Arsenal's title charge the former Manchester City man came away entirely unscathed.
Both Saka and Zinchenko are expected to start the Gunners' next Premier League game against Leeds at the Emirates next Saturday.