Mikel Arteta promised to “pass on” Martin Keown’s praise for William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes after he said the defenders “ate” Erling Haaland.
The Gunners shook off their poor record against Manchester City as Gabriel Martinelli scored a late winner to blow the title race wide open once again. But, at the heart of that performance, a spirited display from the Arsenal defenders ensured that Pep Guardiola’s free-scoring Norwegian struggled to make much impact.
Keown featured as a pundit on Astro SuperSport’s coverage of the match and the former central defender was quick to praise both Saliba and Gabriel for their contributions at the back. He made sure that manager Mikel Arteta was aware of these sentiments when speaking to him after the weekend’s match.
He said: “I just want to say, by the way, the two central defenders – as an ex-central defender for Arsenal – they were immense today. Saliba and Gabriel, they ate Haaland!
“And it’s not often you can say that because he’s a wonderful player. But they were really, physically top class if you want to pass that on to them.”
“Please tell them [yourself],” Arteta replied. “When you see them around, please tell them! I will pass the message on.”
Fellow BBC pundit Garth Crooks heaped further praise on 22-year-old Saliba. The ex-Tottenham star put biases aside when placing the Frenchman in his Team of the Week feature.
Writing in a column, he said: “Once again the steadying influence of William Saliba in defence for the Gunners is proving invaluable. The atmosphere at Emirates Stadium was as tense as I have known it against Manchester City and yet Saliba was as cool as ice and appeared to handle Erling Haaland without any trouble at all.
“I rate Saliba as highly as I rated Sol Campbell. The France international has the same kind of presence in defence as the former England man and is just as quick.”
Saliba has been ruled out of contention for France’s upcoming international matches with a nagging toe injury. He has been replaced by Jean-Clair Todibo but Arteta will hope that he is okay to continue for Arsenal after the international break.