Arsenal's Bukayo Saka reveals Thierry Henry message before landmark West Ham United goal - 'He is always pushing me'

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Bukayo Saka stressed that Thierry Henry is "always pushing" him to improve and revealed that the Arsenal icon sent him a message before The Gunners' 2-0 victory over West Ham United. Declan Rice opened the scoring for Arsenal against his former club, before Saka doubled the north Londoners' lead from the spot. However, the win was marred by another injury to Martin Odegaard.

Saka 'makes sure' of victory for Arsenal - Goalkeeper 'won't want to see that again'

Video credit: TNT Sports

Bukayo Saka revealed that Thierry Henry is "always pushing" him to improve after Arsenal breezed to a 2-0 victory over West Ham United.

Former Hammer Declan Rice opened his account for the season to put Arsenal ahead, before Saka sealed victory from the spot in Mikel Arteta’s 300th game in charge.

At full-time, Saka, who emulated Arsenal legend Henry in netting on his 200th Premier League appearance for the club, told Sky Sports via the BBC: "Thierry messaged me this morning to remind me we lost the last two games to West Ham at home.

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"He is always pushing me. I am really happy to have my name with his records."

Henry is widely considered to be among the greatest players in Premier League history, with the forward winning four Premier League golden boots and two Premier League titles, one of which came courtesy of Arsenal’s unbeaten ‘invincible’ season.

On the West Ham win, Saka continued: "[The victory] showed the progress we have made. The last two seasons we slipped up at home against West Ham and we wanted to put that right today.

"We know the quality we have at the top end of the pitch and we know if we keep a clean sheet it is more than likely we will win the game."

The win has seen Arsenal move to the top of the Premier League table, ahead of Liverpool, who play against Chelsea later on Saturday.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 04: Bukayo Saka of Arsenal scores his team's second goal from the penalty spot during the Premier League match between Arsenal and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on October 04, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Image credit: Getty Images

Arteta on Odegaard injury: ‘It's not looking very positive’

Arsenal’s win was marred by an injury to Martin Odegaard, with the club captain being withdrawn in the first half upon hurting his knee in a collision with West Ham's Crysencio Summerville.

Odegaard, who had only just returned from a shoulder problem, joins the likes of Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz, Piero Hincapie and Gabriel Jesus in the Arsenal treatment room.

"With Martin it was a clash knee to knee," Arteta conceded. "It's not looking very positive at the moment."

Rice, too, was forced off with an injury, with Arteta revealing the England international asked the Spaniard to come off.

On Rice's substitution, Arteta said: "With Declan he was struggling with back pain and he asked me to come off. Let's see what the doctor says now and what is best for him."

On Saka scoring on his 200th appearance, the Spaniard added: "It's exceptional what he's doing at his age.

"The impact he has on those matches, it's very difficult to do. I'm very happy for him.

"He's super consistent and willing to learn constantly. He finds ways to find goals. He will grow and become more mature. Hopefully, he'll keep impacting the team."

'Not positive' - Arteta gives update on Rice, Odegaard injuries in win over West Ham

Video credit: SNTV

The victory capped a positive spell for Arsenal, backing up wins over Newcastle United and Olympiakos.

"I’m very happy," Arteta said. "We knew it would be a tough match. Three games in seven days and two very intense games before this. Very happy.

"When we played Newcastle we said we had to learn from the past and the scars we had in that stadium.

"Today as well we lost the previous two at the Emirates [against West Ham] but we won today and fully deserved it."

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