Bukayo Saka: 'It’s not easy. But nothing worth having is easy'

When Saka was only 19 and in the midst of lighting up the Euros with England, Ian Wright said: 'Everybody at Arsenal knows that Saka is burdened with glorious purpose'

FINE START: Arsenal's Bukayo Saka celebrates after scoring during the opening Premier League game of the season against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium. Pic: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

"It means everything because these are records that go down in history,” Bukayo Saka says intently as he prepares to play his 83rd consecutive Premier League game for Arsenal against Fulham on Saturday afternoon. A seemingly random number took on fresh meaning for Saka earlier this week when, after a difficult victory over Crystal Palace, he was told that he had just equalled a record set by Paul Merson.

The Saka and Merson eras could hardly be more different. Merson, who played 82 successive matches for Arsenal between February 1995 and February 1997, once told me that, through the lost haze of his drinking and gambling addiction, he could hardly remember anything of his occasionally brilliant career. “That breaks my heart more than anything,” Merson said between the tears as he reflected on his harrowing past.