Bukayo Saka given huge reception by Spurs fans in North London derby

Arsenal star Bukayo Saka received a great reception from Tottenham fans in the North London derby yesterday.

While the new Premier League season may still be four days away, fans of Arsenal and Tottenham were treated to a special friendly on Sunday as the pair locked horns in a warm-up game ahead of the new campaign. The game was won by Spurs courtesy of a second half goal from Son Heung-min, but in reality, the real story of the day came from the appearance of Bukayo Saka.

North London solidarity

Just a matter of weeks ago we all watched in horror as Saka missed England’s last penalty in the Euro 2020 final shootout, subsequently ensuring Italy won the tournament and saw off the challenge of the Three Lions.

What followed was a disgusting barrage of racial abuse levelled towards Saka as well as Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, both of whom also missed.

So, when Saka took to the pitch for the Gunners’ clash with bitter rivals Tottenham, it was truly heartwarming to see this kind of reaction from supporters of both fans.

There’s a real movement taking place right now across the landscape of the beautiful game with the aim being simple: to eradicate racism from football and society as a whole.

It’s not exactly going to happen overnight and nobody is pretending otherwise, but small steps such as this really do help in improving the image of the sport in this country and across the globe.

Moving forward, it truly does feel like Bukayo Saka is going to grow stronger from this experience as international fans look ahead to next year’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Domestically speaking, though, Bukayo’s attention will be firmly fixated on Friday night as Arsenal prepare to kick off the new Premier League season against newcomers Brentford.

Featured image credit: Getty

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