Arsenal defender William Saliba has emphasised that he played a significant role in the club missing out on winning the Premier League last season.
It was his debut full season with the club, and Arsenal greatly benefited from his two-season loan spell in Ligue 1 prior to that. His partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes in defence was exceptional, contributing to numerous clean sheets that saw Arsenal leading the Premier League standings for a long period during the campaign.
However, Saliba’s unfortunate injury in the final weeks of the season coincided with a dip in Arsenal’s form, ultimately leading to them losing the top spot to Manchester City, who went on to become champions.
Many fans and Saliba himself acknowledge that his absence played a significant role in Arsenal’s inability to secure the title.
He tells Téléfoot, relayed by So Foot:
“Last year, I had a good season,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I got injured during the year, in the final sprint. It’s clear that I was a little disappointed, but there you go, it’s a new season with new ambitions, I hope we will do better.
“It’s clear that with me, Arsenal could have been champions. But now, injuries are part of football, and we are focused on this season.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Saliba was a very important player for us last season and the defender proved to be one of the men that could have led us to the title, and truly, his injuries ruined our chances of becoming champions at the end of the term.
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It’s interesting that Saliba says his injury contributed to us missing out on the title yet certain fans have always downplayed this as a contributing factor;instead attributing our ultimate failure solely on a supposed “lack of winning mentality”. Many pundits too like Ferdinand pointed out that the loss of the Frenchman reduced our prospects of winning the league. Anyway,if I had to choose between the opinions of professional footballers and opinions of individuals without credentials in the footballing industry,I know whose opinions I’d take more seriously.
No Doubt WS’s Injury was a major factor in not clinching the Title.