In Gabriel and William Saliba, Arsenal are supposed to have the best centre-back pairing in Europe.
Fans, pundits, and journalists regularly tell this to whoever is listening or reading.
Most felt fairly bullish when making such a statement, given that the Gunners conceded the fewest number of goals in the Premier League last season (29) while keeping the most clean sheets (18).
It is an easy narrative to push and it has bled into the current campaign.
A lot of people had the Gunners as title favourites in pre-season and cited their defensive resilience as a reason why they felt they’d be able to topple the machine that is Manchester City.
And despite their sluggish start to the 2024/25 season, it continues to be a narrative being pushed by the masses at the Emirates.
Matt Upson recently said they’re the best defensive partnership in Europe, and when asked about this, New York Times journalist Rory Smith struggled to refute this claim on the Monday Night Club with Mark Chapman on BBC.
When being interviewed by Ben Foster for Amazon Sport, Arsenal centre-back Ben White claimed the pairing of Saliba and Gabriel was the best he’s ever seen.
The former Brighton defender said: “I’m not sure I’ve seen two better together.
“Saliba is absolutely incredible. The way he’s playing, he’s still so young. He’s in control. It’s so weird because like in training, you obviously see glimpses of how good he is but in a game, it is a completely different level that he shows. Like, he can just cruise training, nothing goes past him. It’s literally like nobody even tries because they just know there’s no point.
“Then there’s Gabriel. I think Saliba has taken a lot of the light but he’s been unbelievable and obviously the threat that he has in the box is scary.”
But, here’s the thing, the numbers no longer back this idea up.
Mikel Arteta’s side haven’t kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since their 1-0 win over Spurs in September.
They have kept just three clean sheets in their opening 10 Premier League games and have conceded 11 goals. For context, here, Liverpool lead the way for clean sheets with five while the Gunners have conceded five more goals than the Reds, four more than the superteam that is Nottingham Forest and one more than an inconsistent Newcastle United team.
Arsenal have conceded as many goals as Spurs, a real Jekyll and Hyde team this season, and Manchester City.
The Gunners have the third lowest Expected Goals Conceded total (10.5), behind Nottingham Forest (9.7) and Liverpool (8.1).
A worrying stat for Arteta and his players will be the fact they have conceded two or more in four of their 10 games in the English top-flight this term. For context, they conceded two or more in just eight of their 38 matches last term.
Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in four matches and conceded two or more in four. It really is feast or famine for the opposition against the title hopefuls. There’s no consistency there. There’s no defensive real resilience.
And this is having an impact on individuals. Saliba was sent off against Bournemouth for hauling back a player as the last man. The Frenchman is also losing more aerial duels than ever before despite winning more ground duels. Gabriel, meanwhile, is winning more aerial duels but losing more ground duels. Things aren’t as balanced as they once were for Arteta and his team.
As a result, the defence isn’t quite as formidable as it once was. In fact, they’re on target to finish the campaign having conceded 42 goals with an Expected Goals Conceded haul of 40.
With these numbers and this sort of form, do the Gunners boast the best centre-back pairing in Europe? It is an emphatic no. It is time to stop pretending otherwise.
