Is Gabriel and Saliba the strongest CB partnership in the EPL?
Arsenal are off to a great start to the season, unbeaten in the last eleven games, Arteta has got us playing like a well-oiled machine. After tinkering a bit at the start of the season, Arteta looks to have gone with what he knows has and will work in defence and has reverted to playing the centre back pairing of Gabriel and William Saliba.
After we had arguably one of our most impressive campaign’s in years last season, where we sat at the top of the league for the majority of it, Arsenal fans would have been expecting Arteta to keep the same defence that managed to get us so far, but Arteta being the type of manager he is, had to experiment a bit, but after the injuries of Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber, Arteta looked to revert back to what we all knew and loved to see last season.
Since the victory against Manchester United, they’ve looked solid. Picking up right where they left off last season. With a partnership that feels like something that comes naturally to them. Always reading each other’s game, and it looks like they can almost telepathically predict what each other’s next move will be, making them the perfect partnership to command and keep our backline strong.
Since making the change, we’ve managed to walk away with five clean sheets and winning all six games they’ve started together in. With both players keeping our backline compact and almost impossible to get past, we’ve looked dangerous in defence. Declan Rice has been playing just in front of them and I think that’s also added to the way they’re playing, with a sense of security in front them, they look to be playing comfortably and almost better than last season.
With a lot of games to come, injury worries are always looming, and both had their troubles last season, both missing several games. Saliba missing 12 games due to a back injury and Gabriel missing 3 games due to a knee injury. Arsenal fans will be praying we don’t see anything like that this season. They’ve both built such a solid partnership that if one was to get injured, I think it would really impact the style of football we have been playing lately.
Not losing a game together yet, Gabriel and Saliba are looking to be the strongest pairing in the premier league this season, so far. A partnership that Arsenal fans will be hoping we continue to see throughout the season. Arteta clearly trusts them and personally, I think they’ve now proved they can be trusted. Let’s hope it’s set in stone.
What’s your thoughts Gooners? How happy have you been with our CB’s so far?
Daisy Mae
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No , didn’t win title and havn’t conceded the less goals so how can they be the best ?
They failed to win the tittle cos of an injury to one of them amongst others. As the headline states their “pairing” is actually the best in the league.
Sorry “partnership”.
So they conceded fewer goals then anyone else then before Saliba injury ?
And this season they conceded least goals ?
you talk but i have yet to see you give one partnership better than Saliba/Gabriel
I remember Arsenal 1-3 City …both played
Both played when we lost at Everton , drew with Brentford during that spell
But not as much when they both did’nt get to play together. Just replying for the sake of it and like Ackshay said name at least one PARTNERSHIP better than theirs.
Because it is a team game and not a game of who has the best CB pairing. You can have the best players or partnership and not win the league. Using your logic:
Messi or Ronaldo were not the best players when their team didn’t won title or score the most goals.
Salah is not the best winger in the league as liverpool didn’t win the title and score most goal.
Henry wasn’t the best striker when man utd won the league.
Well it depends , if a player that season scored and assisted more goals that season then they had a better season yes
no using your logic the team total goal should be the metric. So if jesus scores top scorer with 40 goals 20 assists but City end up with more goals then Jesus isn’t the best attacker cause his team didn’t score more goals. See how this is crazy
You can have the 2 best CBs in the world and not finish with the best defence for various reasons. Man utd finished with most Clean sheets last seasons, would you say they are the best defence in the league.
If Jesus contributed to 60 goals yes he would have claim of being the best striker in that league
Our CB didnt record that kind of numbers .
We were known for alway conceding goals at home and Gabriel made too many errors to be considered one of the best in the league
That is my point is we can judge attacking players by their individual stats(not always right as it also depends on team) but not defenders as their stats are too reliant on the team than themselves and often unquantifiable.
You are judging Saliba/Gabriel partnership by goal conceded when they could both play 10/10 performances all season and still end up with a big goal against column.
Goal conceded and scored are team stats if you are judging defenders by GC then judge attackers by GS. Jesus 60 G/A is not the best since Arsenal is not best attack.
And no mate
Your CB will be judged on goals conceded if your claiming their the best In the league
Chelsea for example in 04- 05 and 05-06 conceded no more then 15 goals in the league
That’s when you say they are best in the league
again read the title again we are talking about the best CB pairing not the best whole defence in the league.
If you’d put mustafi in that chelsea defence they still would have had the best defensive record despite him. Does this mean he is the best CB over say e.g Terry in another team
If he played all season as CB in that defence then yes
Thank you for proving that stupidity of your logic.
so Ramsdale and however played for Chelsea is better than Alisson right, less goal conceded.
The keyword in the article is centre back partnership i.e Gabi/wilo, Gabi/Kiwior, Tomi/Kiwior, Botman/Scharr etc etc
Yeah! They are only rivalled by Toon’s Botman and Scharr, could’ve included City’s CBs but they barely get into action defensively plus it’s not stable or should i say established because of rotations and change of positions. so yeah it’s wilo and gabi.
Yes in my opinion Arsenal have the best pairing center back in the league, Magalhaes in particular has come under a lot of sticks from some fans
But they haven’t realized the constant music he faces as a result of the Ukrainian.
Like the article Daisy and YES we have improved as the season has gone on.
What will be superb, will be the Saliba / Gabriel pairing, with Rice and Partey in front of them, with White and Zinchenko (Timbers) on the flanks, feeding Saka and Martinelli.
Can’t see a weak link with any of the players I’ve mentioned anywhere, once Timbers person is back.
If they both stay fit for 90% of our fixtures and we win the league. 100% yes! Let’s wait and see. For now, yes they are one of the best in the league
Good article Daisy but slight error Gabriel didn’t miss any games last season infact if i remember correctly he started all 38 matches.
He received red cards!!
Indeed that’s why epl has him with 38 appearances in 2022 23 but i guess you know more than them right🤣
Spurs’ first equalizer completely obliterates any such claim.
I could have broken my TV screen for the atrocious defending!
That’s one goal
No central defensive pairing is absolutely perfect every match
Fulham equaliser ?
That was poor defending I thought
The two goals Wolves scored against city proves they haven’t got a good defence then?!?!
They were missing Rodri and you see it.City are not the same team without him, I’d go as far as saying that City missing Rodri is a bigger blow than Arsenal missing Rice.
Of course they’ll concede just a matter of how effective they are overall while playing together compared to other PARTNERSHIPS.
Certainly, one of the best defensive pairings in the PL. I also think they should be rotated for the non important/easy games in order to give them a break sometimes. We have capable replacements in Kiwier and Tomiyasu.