Pundit now claims ‘underperforming’ Arsenal star is due to ‘improve’ this season

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Arsenal star Bukayo Saka is enduring a tough spell of form, but overall he has had a fairly strong campaign in terms of output.

He has scored six times and assisted seven in 19 Premier League games, and in all competitions, he has scored nine goals and assisted 12 in 27 matches.

However, his recent form has been questionable, as has his output from open play, as two of his six league strikes have come from the penalty spot.

Chris Sutton has now claimed that Saka’s underperformance in front of goal, relative to his expected goals (xG) statistics, means that he is due to improve and explode in terms of output in the second half of the season.

Chris Sutton predicts Bukayo Saka improvement this season

Speaking on BBC Sounds about Fantasy Premier League, Sutton claimed that Saka’s xG underperformance relative to his talent means that he will soon find his form and improve his output.

“If you look at Saka’s numbers, he’s underperforming his numbers,” he stated.

“If you take away his penalty goals, and you look at the goals minus the xG, he’s underperforming from open play.

“So he is due in the second half of the season to improve that, he’s too good of a player.”

Has Bukayo Saka underperformed in front of goal?

Arsenal’s forwards have all been criticised for a lack of goals in recent weeks, as Mikel Arteta’s side fell to defeats against West Ham, Fulham and Liverpool, despite dominating the two home losses.

According to FBRef, in overall terms, Saka is marginally underperforming his xG, as he has scored six times from an xG value of 6.9.

When removing his two penalties, his goals per 90 minutes value stands at 0.22, whilst his non-penalty xG stands at 0.29 per 90 minutes.

What this means, is that Saka is not scoring as many as he would have expected to based on the chances which have fallen to him, but this is a marginal difference, and one which may not indicate a dramatic explosion in front of goal in the second half of the season.

Saka was particularly poor against Fulham and Liverpool, and given his heavy workload this season, there is a case to be made that briefly dropping out of the starting XI could be of benefit to him, and he could come back from this mid-season break refreshed and ready to start delivering his best level of performance again.