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Gary Neville says two Arsenal players were ‘off the scale’ at Man City
Gary Neville has named the two Arsenal players whose running statistics would have been off the scale after their ‘absolutely outstanding’ performances against Manchester City on Sunday.
Arsenal were knocked off top spot in the Premier League. But Mikel Arteta will surely hardly struggle to take the positives from their point at the Etihad Stadium.
Once again, the clash between Arsenal and Manchester City was a cagey one; often lacking in quality in the final third. But this time, there was to be no deflected strike from Gabriel Martinelli late on.
City certainly looked more likely to break the deadlock for much of the game. However, Arsenal defended brilliantly.
William Saliba was exceptional against Erling Haaland, as was Gabriel Magalhaes alongside him. Meanwhile, Declan Rice‘s importance to the balance of the side was there to see again.
Speaking on , Gary Neville insisted that he was so impressed by the two Arsenal centre-backs. However, there were two other Arsenal players who really caught his eye.
Gary Neville amazed by Arsenal pair
Gabriel Jesus had his own Paul Gascoigne moment in the second-half, when he was agonisingly unable to get a toe on a ball across the six-yard box. Meanwhile, Bukayo Saka will definitely have more impactful days from an attacking perspective.
But Neville suggested that both men deserve a lot of credit for how they supported the likes of Ben White, Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
“Both teams were well short, in terms of ordinary attacking play, but there was some great defensive work. And Arsenal proved today, two things, one you think of where they were last year on this run-in, that’s a different unit. That’s a different resilience and robustness. The thing that you need on a title run-in is strength of mentality. And they’ve demonstrated a lot to themselves and to everybody that they can come here and keep a clean sheet,” he said.
“Was it two and a half, three years since anybody’s had a clean sheet here? So that’s a helluva an effort. And the next thing was the defensive structure. Just seen a 4-4-2, it was effectively a 4-4-2 that Mikel Arteta deployed. And the work ethic of the two wide players – before I start going into the defensive part with Saliba and Gabriel, who were absolutely outstanding – the two wide players, I don’t know their running stats today, we won’t get them either, but they were off the scale in their doubling up.
“I’ve quite often said in big games, when I played as a right-back, I quite often relied, you’re playing against a Marc Overmars or a David Ginola or an Arjen Robben, a great player, you can’t handle them one on one on your own. You do need support of your wide players to come back and make it difficult.
“Jesus and Saka were absolutely outstanding in that respect today. The work they put in for their team was brilliant. And they suffered in a sense that they didn’t get forward and provide the attacking threat that they would have wanted.”
Gunners now look like a machine
Arsenal appear to be so much stronger at the back this season. Of course, losing Saliba appeared to be a key reason the Gunners’ title push fell apart late last year.
In the final nine games of last season, they went on to concede 16 goals, including 11 in the four matches immediately after their 29th game.
Arsenal have now played 29 games this term. They have conceded three goals fewer at the same stage. And you would be stunned if they went on anything like the same poor run in the coming weeks.
This Arsenal side may not be as entertaining for the neutral. But as a title contender, they are absolutely a threat to be taken seriously.