William Saliba and Gabriel earned a clean sheet for Arsenal on Saturday (Picture: Getty Images)
Rio Ferdinand fancies Arsenal to be Manchester City’s closest challengers for the Premier League title, above Liverpool, thanks to their impressive centre-back partnership.
William Saliba and Gabriel were at the heart of the Gunners defence as they beat Brentford 1-0 on Saturday at the Gtech Community Stadium thanks to a late Kai Havertz goal.
Mikel Arteta’s side have the best defence in the Premier League so far this season, conceding just 10 goals in 13 games and Ferdinand has been very impressed by the players in the position he excelled in himself.
‘The two centre-backs, they’ll be the reason why I would put them ahead of Liverpool in the title race to challenge someone like Manchester City, because you can trust those two implicitly at the moment,’ Ferdinand said on TNT Sports after Arsenal’s win at Brentford.
‘They’re bang in form and that partnership is only going to grow the way they’re playing at the moment.’
Ferdinand also had praise for the grit, determination and battling qualities of the Arsenal team, which they demonstrated with the victory over the Bees.
It was not a vintage performance from Arteta’s side by any means, but they kept plugging away and Bukayo Saka’s excellent cross was nodded in by Havertz in the 89th minute to secure three points.
Gabriel and Saliba have forged an impressive partnership over the last 18 months (Picture: Getty Images)
‘They don’t mind coming [to] places like this and having to fight,’ said the Manchester United legend. ‘That’s the big difference as well. There are some players that when it’s good and going well they look good.
‘These guys don’t mind rolling up their sleeves as well and doing the ugly stuff, which is a real testament to them as a partnership.’
The win puts Arsenal a point ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table after the champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool earlier on Saturday.
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The Gunners are top of the table.