Stats prove Arsenal's Saliba-Gabriel centre-back partnership is the Premier League's best
In the end, Arsenal could not quite manage a clean sheet against Newcastle United. But the Gunners’ defensive display on Saturday was one of their best of the season.
Newcastle have struggled to replicate the form that earned them a fourth-placed finish last term. They have, however, been more productive going forward this time around. Eddie Howe’s team rank fifth for goals scored (54) and fourth for expected goals (54.04). They are, by any measure, one of the strongest attacking sides in the Premier League.
Yet there were no signs of that at the Emirates Stadium. Newcastle mustered just three attempts in a 4-1 defeat by Mikel Arteta’s men. For the first time in over a decade, they did not manage a single shot in the first half of a top-flight game. Arsenal, in other words, did not give their opponents a sniff.
It was a team effort from the hosts. Right from the first whistle, they hassled and harried Newcastle high up the pitch. The front three of Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka led the press, with Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice never far behind.
Arsenal smothered Newcastle, who just could not find a way out. This was best illustrated by the second goal. With all passing lanes blocked and a player bearing down on him, Tino Livramento was forced to hit the ball forward aimlessly. William Saliba collected possession, Arsenal recycled it, and within seconds Havertz had converted from close range.
The away team’s heat map (above) is instructive: Newcastle barely had any possession inside the final third throughout the 90 minutes and managed just nine touches in the Arsenal box, their lowest return in a Premier League match this season. "We just weren’t there," Howe admitted afterwards.
Arsenal’s approach would not have worked if the two centre-backs, Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, were not comfortable pushing high up the pitch and being aggressive when their opponents played the ball forward. Thankfully, Arsenal’s central defenders are perfectly suited to this task.
Saliba has played every minute of every Premier League game this season. He and Gabriel have now started 16 matches in a row and 22 of the last 23. Due to injury and rotation, neither Liverpool nor Manchester City boasts such a settled centre-back partnership. That could work to Arsenal’s advantage in this three-way title tussle.
Their defensive record is impressive whichever way you look at it. Arsenal have kept a league-high 10 clean sheets and conceded a league-low 23 goals. Their expected goals against is 18.2, significantly lower than Manchester City (24.6) and Liverpool (31.9). Only City (8.1) give up fewer shots per game than Arsenal (8.4).
The credit for the Gunners’ defensive performance is owed to Arteta and his entire team. But at the risk of stating the obvious, Saliba and Gabriel are integral to Arsenal’s solidity.
The centre-backs are proactive defenders. They often get touch-tight to opposition forwards and look to pinch the ball in front of them. Both have the physicality, mobility and intelligence to defend one-versus-one, which allows Arsenal’s eight other outfielders to push forward and pen the opposition in.
Crucially, though, neither player is rash. Some defenders are overly zealous in their attempts to win possession. Gabriel (0.8) and Saliba (0.5) give up relatively few fouls per game. This compares favourably to the likes of Ruben Dias (1.1) and Ibrahima Konate (1.5). Arsenal’s centre-backs do not put out fires so much as confiscate the matches.
As Arteta himself has pointed out, there is an understanding between the pair that transcends the numbers.
"To see those two centre-backs at that age in the Premier League doing what they’re doing, that’s very strange. But great credit to them, that’s a partnership," he said of the 26-year-old Gabriel and the 22-year-old Saliba in December.
"Building a relationship and chemistry - there is not a company with the stats that can give you that stat. That’s impossible to measure. But there is something there that is not tangible, but it’s very, very important in certain positions and those two certainly have that."
As if they were not already valuable enough, Saliba and Gabriel are looking increasingly dangerous in the opposition box. The latter was involved in Arsenal’s first goal against Newcastle and recently scored against West Ham United, as did Saliba.
There is a long way to go in this Premier League title race. But if the old maxim "defence wins championships" is true, Arsenal are in pole position.
