The closing stages of the 2022/23 campaign highlighted Arsenal’s reliance on William Saliba.
After missing the final third of the campaign through injury, Arsenal quickly relinquished their dominance of the Premier League title race to Manchester City. A flurry of draws and heavy defeats saw the Gunners squander the chance to dethrone Pep Guardiola’s side.
Arsenal have improved dramatically since then, but they still rely on their effortless French centre-half. Having forged an excellent partnership with Gabriel, the duo helped the north London outfit boast the most stubborn defense in the Premier League last season.
But do the numbers reflect public perception? Here’s how Arsenal fare without their main defensive dynamo.
Considering Saliba’s status as one of the the best power stations in the worldno wonder Arsenal suffer when he is unavailable. However, it is worrying how significantly his entire team is affected by his absence.
Since the start of the 2022/23 season, Arsenal have played 11 games in the Premier League without Saliba and have a win rate of just 45.5% in those games. They often fail to get the three points without the 23-year-old.
In contrast, Arsenal win 74% of their Premier League games when Saliba plays. They win roughly three out of every four games when he appears, with a sample size of 73 total games since his debut on August 5, 2023.
Arsenal’s defensive record is particularly worrying without Saliba. They tend to concede 0.8 times per game and allow an expected goal against a total of the same number when he’s in the team, but that jumps to 1.6 goals conceded and 1.4 expected goals against when he’s out. In essence, they are half as good defensively when Saliba is missing.
The lack of alternatives certainly doesn’t help. While the summer arrival of Riccardo Calafiori should ease the burden on Saliba, Gabriel has struggled in previous seasons when lined up alongside Rob Holding and Jakub Kiwior. The latter is still at the club but has failed to impress during his time in north London.
Arsenal record with and without William Saliba in the Premier League from 2022/23
|
With William Saliba |
metric |
Without William Saliba |
|---|---|---|
|
73 |
games |
11 |
|
74% |
Earnings percentage |
45.5% |
|
2.4 |
Points per match |
1.6 |
|
0.8 |
Goals against per game |
1.6 |
|
0.8 |
xG against per game |
1.4 |
Statistics via to choose. Correct as of October 26, 2024.
Of the 11 Premier League games Saliba has missed since the start of 2022/23, Arsenal have lost three. They all came during the shootout at the end of his first full season when the Gunners capitulated in his absence.
In the final six games of the campaign, Arsenal lost 4-1 to their title rivals Man City – a game that put the Cityzens in pole position for the crown – and they were hammered 3-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion. Those two defeats came before the 1-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest that officially handed the Premier League title to Guardiola’s men on the penultimate weekend.
Arsenal kept just two clean sheets in Saliba’s 11 games lost at the end of the 2022/23 season, conceding 18 times in total. They had scored just 25 goals in the 27 league games Saliba had featured in before his injury.
Arsenal also surrendered two-goal leads Liverpool and West Ham United, all stumbling to a 3-3 draw at home to lowly Southampton in which they needed two late goals to salvage a disappointing point.
