AS Bukayo Saka exhaled deeply, the significance of the moment could not be lost on anyone inside the Emirates Stadium or watching at home.

Especially viewers of NBC Sports in the United States, who were treated to commentator Peter Drury’s poetic narration of the Arsenal forward’s potentially decisive penalty kick against Liverpool on Sunday.

“This is one brave boy, Bukayo Saka, because this is one pressure penalty,” Drury began. With the game poised at 2-2, Saka had the chance to put his side ahead and rubber-stamp their title credentials against a perennial contender. But the commentator was referring to an even greater weight of pressure under which the 21-year-old found himself.

It had been little more than a year since from Saka’s saved shootout strike against Italy in the final of the European Championship at Wembley, ending England’s hopes of glory and exposing the then-teenager to a torrent of vile racist abuse. This was, by far, his highest-pressure spot kick since then.

Many more experienced players have sworn off penalties for life after high-profile, costly misses. It speaks to the maturity, responsibility and courage of Saka that not only is he willing to put himself in such situations again, he can meet these moments with such poise and precision.

“He has experienced pressure from the spot like few others,” Drury continued as Saka waited. “He has suffered for that pressure, but now the Emirates braces itself for a perhaps pivotal kick of the football. These are broad shoulders. This is courage.”

Saka began a run-up identical to the one he’d used for that fateful effort against Italy – a burst of short, twinkle-toed steps before lengthening his stride as he neared the ball.

In the Euro final, he struck high and to the goalkeeper’s left, and Gianluigi Donnarumma stretched to collide with the ball, beating it away to seal Italy’s victory. This time, faced with Liverpool’s Allisson Becker, an equally intimidating opponent, Saka went low to the keeper’s right.

This time, the ball nestled into the corner of the net.

“Such poise,” Drury exclaimed as the Emirates erupted. “Such noise.”

It was Saka’s second goal of the game. He and the increasingly impressive Gabriel Martinelli had struck in the first half, and both times Liverpool responded to level the tie. But Jurgen Klopp’s men had no answer to Saka’s 76th-minute side-footer from the spot. The Gunners clinched the kind of victory that has further cemented their status as genuine players in the top-four race this term and perhaps the strongest challenge to Manchester City’s Premier League crown.

The win kept Mikel Arteta’s side top of the table, one point above City. And Saka’s brace took is tally for the season to three goals, to go with the four assists he has already accumulated, putting him on course to eclipse his career-best tallies of 11 goals and seven assists from last term.

If last season’s productivity was enough to see him earn Arsenal’s Player of the Season award for the second consecutive year, Saka’s sizeable role in an electric start to the 2022-23 campaign has burgeoned his status as a current superstar at the Emirates and a potential club icon in the making.

Having spent spells in his early career flitting between positions – featuring as a full-back, wing-back, left winger and No.10 – Saka has made a home of the left flank in Arteta’s supremely balanced line-up. From there, he has the pace and agility to lead fast breaks, the versatility to attack defenders on either side and the ability to cut inside on to his stronger left foot to create or score with ruthless regularity.

Saka’s successful penalty against Liverpool was the 20th league goal of his nascent career, making him – aged just 21 years and 34 days – the second-youngest player to reach that mark in the Premier League for Arsenal, behind only 1998 Double winner Nicolas Anelka.

But Saka’s importance to – and status within – this confident, upstart Arsenal team is about so much more than what can be quantified. A point perfectly exemplified by the fact he elected to take the penalty against Liverpool, that he put himself back in the face of the fire that burned him a year ago. And that he showed no sign of that burden.

This is a young Arsenal side. Very young. The youngest in the Premier League this season in terms of average age of starting line-ups, in fact. And Saka is among their youngest players. But, as an academy graduate and England regular, he is the face of the team.

And he is emerging as a leader among Arteta’s youthful high achievers. Not a leader in the mould of past Gunners greats such as the tub-thumping Tony Adams or the midfield general Patrick Vieira. But rather a beacon of elite performance, a radiant example of poise under pressure, expression amid expectation.

These are broad shoulders indeed.