Why Saliba has usurped Van Dijk as the Premier League's best centre-back

 

Arsenal have taken the Premier League title race to the final day of the season.   

 

The Gunners eked out a 1-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday to return to the top of the table. Their lead over Manchester City stands at one point, though the reigning champions do have a game in hand.   

 

Leandro Trossard was the match-winner at Old Trafford as he latched onto a Kai Havertz cross to fire past Andre Onana as the visitors capitalised on a Casemiro error. It is now five wins on the spin for Mikel Arteta’s side. They have scored 14 goals across these outings and conceded just two goals.   

 

Key to this title chase has been Arsenal’s defensive resilience. The Gunners have kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League (18) and conceded the fewest number of goals (28). For a little more context here, that works out at just 0.75 goals against per 90.  

 

Since the turn of the year, Arteta’s men have kept 11 clean sheets in 17 games in the English top-flight. In 64% of their games, they have needed just one goal to pick up maximum points. This makes life much easier when going for a title. When there’s less pressure on the final third players, missed chances aren’t anywhere near as costly and the difference-makers are able to play with a little more freedom.  

 

That might be why Arsenal have been scoring for fun over recent months. They aren’t needing to. They’re wanting to.  

 

And while the forward line has been praised and David Raya has been lauded for winning a Golden Glove in his first campaign with the club, one of the key reasons for Arsenal’s success this season has been William Saliba.  

 

Their collapse in the title race last season coincided with the Frenchman picking up an injury towards the latter end of the campaign and finishing with just 27 appearances in the English top-flight. He’s played all 37 Premier League games this season though and, at the time of writing, Arsenal are top of the table.  

 

That isn’t a coincidence.  

 

The 23-year-old put in yet another Player of the Match showing on Sunday as he limited the hosts to nothing but scraps at Old Trafford. It now means Saliba has claimed the Player of the Match award against Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. Three huge games for Arsenal. Three huge performances by the former on-loan Marseille man.  

 

 

In the win over the Red Devils, Saliba finished with a pass success rate of 90%. He also won 100% of his aerial duels, 100% of his ground duels and 100% of his tackles. The young French defender ranked first for tackles (4), touches (99), and clearances (6). He was a brick wall for the visitors and his performance more than justified a WhoScored rating of 7.82.  

 

His average rating for the campaign (6.85) is significantly up from last season’s (6.77). There’s a maturity to his game now and he’s developing not only as a player but also as a leader in this very young team.  

 

The clean sheet at Old Trafford was Arsenal’s seventh in their last eight Premier League away games and their 11th in total this season. Only Chelsea (12) during the 2008/09 season can better that record. It was also their 27th win in the league, the most in their history.   

 

When you think about how good some of the Arsenal teams were under Arsene Wenger and some of their achievements, it is remarkable to think this group is managing to better what they did. And while Saliba isn’t solely responsible for it, his performances have given the Gunners a solid, reliable platform for the majority of the campaign.   

 

There’s a strong argument to be made that Saliba has usurped Virgil van Dijk as the best centre-back in the Premier League, at least on current form, and he’s now the bar every other defender is measured against.

Why Saliba has usurped Van Dijk as the Premier League's best centre-back