Arsenal legend Sol Campbell believes Mikel Arteta has a ‘beautiful’ central defensive pairing in William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes yet the players are still ‘not perfect’.
The Emirates Stadium natives have boasted the best defence in the Premier League through 15 games this term. Saliba has been an essential reason for their successes, as well, as the only Arsenal star to play for all 1,350 minutes. Declan Rice (1,296) has played the next most.
Saliba started the term with Ben White as his central partner before Arteta recalled Gabriel to their line-up in September. The Brazilian has since started in all but one of Arsenal’s next 12 matches. Jakub Kiwior took up Gabriel’s left-sided role in a 5-0 win over Sheffield United.
Saliba and Gabriel have helped Arsenal set the Premier League’s best defensive record
Only Liverpool can match Arsenal’s defensive record through 15 fixtures as they lock out the top two positions in the Premier League table. Both teams have conceded just 14 goals over their fixtures yet. Arsenal and Liverpool have also kept six and five clean sheets respectively.
Per WhoScored, the north London giants have further allowed the fewest shots per game so far this season at 8.1. Liverpool have given up the eighth-most shots per game (12.3). Arteta has also seen his players commit the fewest fouls per game in the top-flight this term at 9.3.
Campbell considers Arteta’s defensive pairing to be Arsenal’s best since the Invincibles
What Gabriel and Saliba show as a defensive pairing astounds Campbell, who considers the Brazil and France internationals to be the Gunners’ strongest combination since the Arsenal legend and Kolo Toure. Yet Campbell still does not feel the 25 and 22-year-olds are ‘perfect’.
“Right now, it is beautiful,” Campbell has told The Sun. “They have been given time to build a relationship. They’re playing incredible football and they’re not mucking about.
“You can see the will in their eyes, the fire in their bellies. It is not perfect, yet it is so strong. They have real confidence. Once you get it, never disrespect it.
“That old Roman saying of never resting on your laurels, that’s when big mistakes can happen. You win titles and cups by having a strong backline pair and Arsenal have that to look forward to over the next few years. Long may it last.”
Campbell and Toure still remain Arsenal’s last defensive pairing to win a Premier League title back in 2003/04. They were an essential part of Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles backline, which averaged 0.7 goals against them a game compared to the 0.9 that Arteta’s side are shipping.
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