[3] He spent a year in the academy at Fulham, but was unable to win a contract and dropped into non-League football when he signed for Southern League Premier Division club Welling United's youth team in 2000.

[3] Saunders played sparingly for Welling before moving to Southern League First Division East club Ashford Town (Kent) on 7 March 2002.

[9] Saunders was a virtual ever-present during the 2006–07 season, making 43 appearances and scoring three goals as Dagenham won the Conference Premier title to secure promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club's history.

[14] Beginning with an injury time equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Chesterfield on 14 March, he finished the 2008–09 season with a run of six goals in eight games,[14] as Dagenham narrowly missed out on the League Two playoffs.

[19] Used as a wide midfield player by manager Andy Scott, Saunders began the 2009–10 season as a starter, before falling out of favour in October and being used as an impact substitute.

[22][24] After Andy Scott was sacked in February 2011,[25] teammate Nicky Forster was given the manager's job until the end of the season and immediately reinstated Saunders to the starting line-up.

[30] Saunders appeared in each of Brentford's three end-of-season playoff games as a substitute,[30] but he was unable to help the Bees to victory in the 2013 League One play-off final.

[33] An illness suffered by George Saville brought Saunders into the game as a first-half substitute against Preston North End on 21 December and late in the second half he capped a fine Brentford performance by scoring the third goal in a 3–0 victory.

[39] Saunders travelled with the Brentford squad to the IMG Academy in Florida in July 2014 for a pre-season training camp and reported that his injured knee was "fine".

[43] He failed to appear again until Boxing Day,[44] but made his presence felt, when he scored two late goals after coming on for Alan Judge during the second half of a 4–2 defeat to Ipswich Town.

[44][47] A hamstring injury suffered while on loan in May 2015 prevented Saunders from playing at all in Brentford's 2015–16 pre-season and he returned to full training in early August 2015.

[50] He returned to fitness in November and made frequent second-half substitute appearances under interim heach coach Lee Carsley and his replacement Dean Smith.

[49] After 67 minutes of a league match versus Ipswich Town on 13 August 2016,[54] Saunders came on as a substitute for Maxime Colin to make his 200th appearance for Brentford.

[55] By mid-January 2017 and having failed to make an appearance for nearly three months,[54] co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen revealed that the club were open to offers for Saunders and he departed Griffin Park on 20 January 2017.

[44] Saunders' season ended in double heartbreak, as he was substituted with a torn calf less than a minute into the Chairboys' shoot-out defeat to Southend United in the 2015 League Two play-off final.

[17] Nearly two years after he initially joined Wycombe Wanderers on loan, Saunders signed an 18-month permanent contract with the club on a free transfer on 20 January 2017.

[54] Despite missing three of the final months of the 2017–18 season with injury,[62] Saunders made 27 appearances and two goals during a successful campaign,[63] which ended with automatic promotion to League One after a third-place finish.

[3][88][89][90][91] Saunders has undertaken occasional television work, appearing on BBC Late Kick Off in April 2014 and as a pundit for Sky Sports' Football League coverage.