Gabriel Magalhaes has praised his new defensive partner William Saliba after he made his competitive Arsenal debut this weekend against Crystal Palace.
The duo were solid in keeping out their Premier League rivals, especially after a strong second-half performance from Patrick Vieira’s side.
While Arsenal fans have been waiting three years to see their new star in action, there were plenty of reasons to be happy about his long-awaited debut, and team-mate Gabriel went as far as to describe him as ‘the best’.
Gabriel told the Standard: “For me, he’s the best! He’s very young, very promising and a very good player. I am so happy to play with him, together. He has now started in the Premier League and he was so good.
“The team did very well. They showed intensity and everyone stayed together. It’s very difficult to play here, but our keeper was strong. I believe in this team and it was very good. We got a clean sheet and three very good points.”
I can’t wait to see more from Saliba, and it will be interesting to see if he keeps his place in the team when Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney are both back to full fitness. Ben White has been impressive since joining from Brighton last summer, and will likely be trusted ahead of the Frenchman at present, but if Saliba can keep his form levels high he could quickly become one of the first names on the teamsheet.
Patrick
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Arteta would have liked a couple more goals against Palace. Wouldn’t we all!
I expect both White and Saliba to get game time. There’s cup competitions, EL group stages and… times when there are 3 CBs in the line-up.
It’s a long season, especially with the WC and all Arsenal CBs are likely to be playing in it, possibly until the latter stages (in view of the expected performance of the countries they represent) which means they’ll be tired by the time the season ends, almost a year from when pre-season started.
So rotation is going to be important. By the time any big games come round, the management will have a pretty good idea what their best line-up is for each opponent – and of course there may be an element of who’s available due to injuries – but that’s what healthy competition is all about.
Its all good that Saliba is back n fighting for his place with White and Gabriel. As i see this goes both ways and Arteta has the pleasure of choosing between all three of them. Which come on lets be honest we havent had this depth of real quality center backs since Adams Keown and Bould. Its great to see Arteta and Edu taking Arsenal back to where to belongs the top. Personally i like all three but Arteta will want to see how White and Saliba pair up together as well before choosing his starters !! its going to be exciting but wow !! id play all 3 week in week out lol 😂 but thats because i couldnt make my mind up!
yeah treated him as garbage, lets hope he agree 250k+ and 5years+. if he chose us before man city, liverpool, barca, Real, PSG… but we can hope he is a true fan then maybee.
Best CB in arsenal since Adams maybee even better… amazingly baf man management, if he gave saliba the chance earlier lets say last year, he would grown more in PL,,, he’s been our best cb for 2 years probably…. atleast much better than alot we keept, skratis, mari, mustafi, etc and nah we buy a cb for 50£ and give him NR 4 lol…. like ben i do but not in Salibas ball park… another lvl probably top 10 CB of all time if he stays fit and have a manager that belivews in him
Although it’s Saliba’s first match and against a very physical team, yet he was exceptional, I hope he would be outstanding against lesser teams, let’s just hope he stands tall against strikers like Darwin, Haaland and Kane,
I’m glad our defense is sorted now, hopefully we can use white as DM in some matches even though we sign another CDM/CM, rotation is important.
It is time now that all those who critised M Arteta openly swallow their blind pride an appreciate his plans and recontraction of Arsenal club. I like him, he does not like so called old experienced stars who are famous but he believe in developing his own young stars, just like A Wenger. Watch the space…..
It is time now that all those who critised M Arteta openly swallow their blind pride and appreciate his plans and rebuilding of Arsenal club. I like him, he is very brave, he does not like so called experienced stars who are famous but he believe in developing his own young stars, just like A Wenger. Watch the space…..