Saliba: We need to do much better defensively

William Saliba has urged Arsenal to tighten up defensively after conceding two sloppy goals in last weekend’s 5-2 win over West Ham, admitting the team’s defending was “not good enough.”

Last season, the Gunners boasted the Premier League’s stingiest backline, shipping just 29 goals at a rate of 0.76 per game. This time around, things haven’t been quite as watertight, with 14 goals conceded in 14 games – three more than league leaders Liverpool.

While there have been signs of improvement in the last few weeks, lapses in concentration have still blotted the copybook.

“Since we’ve been back, we’ve been playing better football and we have to keep going,” Saliba told The Mirror.

“We’re so happy to be scoring goals but we concede a lot of goals, as well. It’s not good enough, especially last weekend [against West Ham ] when we were winning 4-0, we didn’t have to concede two goals just after. I think we have to do much better defensively.”

The Frenchman certainly seemed determined to set things right on Wednesday, leading Arsenal to a clean sheet against Manchester United despite the absence of his regular partner Gabriel Magalhaes. Saliba has nothing but good things to say about the Brazilian.

“Since the day I first played with him, I’ve enjoyed every game. He’s a massive, massive defender that is so good in every aspect,” he said.

“But if we want to be all-time great defenders, where everyone remembers us, we have to win some trophies. We haven’t done it yet but we will give everything to achieve that.”

With the Big Gabi still sidelined, Saliba will once again team up with Jakub Kiwior for today’s trip to Fulham as the Gunners look to temporarily close the gap on Liverpool to four points.

“Everything is possible,” said Saliba when asked about Arsenal’s title ambitions.

“The season is very long and we’ve experienced that in the past two years. We just have to focus on ourselves, we are still only in December so there are still a lot of things that can happen.”