Arsenal’s William Saliba tops every other Premier League defender at one thing, it’s not even close
Although Gabriel Magalhaes had been the Arsenal defender dominating the headlines of late, William Saliba is also enjoying another excellent season thus far.
Gabriel has been incredible from set-pieces scoring twice for Arsenal against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City – two of the hardest away trips on the calendar.
But Saliba has still been Arsenal’s most consistent defender this campaign, now complemented by the likes of Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori.
Even though it was imposing last season, Arteta’s defensive line is even stronger this time around – Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko have been replaced, and their occasional insufficiencies are no longer an issue.
That being said, defending to the standards that Arteta sets is no easy task, even if Saliba is making it look that way.
Not one player has dribbled past William Saliba this season
Saliba recently praised another Arsenal star – saying his left foot might even be better than Bukayo Saka’s.
But this time around, it’s the Frenchman himself receiving the applause, a defender who has out performed every other in the Premier League in one key area.
WhoScored shared a stat on X detailing that Saliba has made the most tackles in the division without being dribbled past this season, by some way.
The Arsenal centre-back has made 18 tackles in that regard, with Southampton’s Yukinari Sugawara and Manchester City’s Rico Lewis in joint second place with nine.
Put simply, no Premier League attacker is currently able to dribble past Saliba, and they’ve tried a lot of times.
Of course, what makes this statistic even more remarkable is that it’s hardly surprising, either.
Saliba has set such a high bar from himself in red, and he rarely ever has a poor moment let alone performance.
Myles Lewis-Skelly ready to start against Bolton
Against Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday evening, if he starts, Saliba is likely to play alongside a new face in Arsenal’s backline.
Arteta hinted that Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly would start, an exciting duo for Arsenal fans to get a proper look at.
Both have appeared as substitutes in the Premier League, but neither have started for Arteta’s senior side to date.
Perhaps Raheem Sterling will also start against Bolton, another player who has never begun a match as an Arsenal player.
It should be a feel-good night for the Gunners in N5, who will be very wary of their old Premier League rivals springing a surprise.
