The Gunners legend was blown away by the ‘immense’ pair (Picture: Stadium Astro / YouTube)
Mikel Arteta looked to be in full agreement with Martin Keown after the Arsenal legend said William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes had ‘eaten’ Erling Haaland in Sunday’s win over Manchester City.
The Gunners ended their long wait for a win against Pep Guardiola’s side – which had stretched back to December 2015 – thanks to Gabriel Martinelli’s 86th-minute deflected strike.
It was a largely cagey and defensive match, with just three shots on target combined between the two teams, while Premier League top scorer Haaland was restricted to just 23 touches and did not muster a single attempt on goal.
The key reason behind that was the superb performances of Arsenal’s two centre-backs, with Saliba delivering a particular monstrous and physical performance to keep Haaland quiet.
Keown, who played 332 times in the league for Arsenal, was blown away by what he saw from the duo and was keen to let Arteta know during a post-match chat with the Spaniard.
Just as Arteta was coming to the end of an interview with Astro SuperSport, Keown 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.
Arsenal’s centre-backs dominated against City (Picture: Getty)
‘But they were really, physically top class if you want to pass that on to them.’
Arteta was beaming with pride as Keown spoke, nodding his head and saying ‘yes’ several times in agreement with the former centre-back.
‘Please tell them [yourself],’ replied the Arsenal boss. ‘When you see them around, please tell them! I will pass the message on.’
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Reflecting on the defensive resistance shown by his side against City, Arteta said at his post-match press conference: ‘I was thinking about that in the 92nd minute, saying that we haven’t had that many [clean sheets].
‘But against the best team in the world, we managed to do it.
‘The application and the love that we had today for defending was what we needed, was in every player and it was a necessity.
‘If you concede against them, you know afterwards it’s extremely difficult because they don’t give much away. So, it was really important.’
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