Manchester United icon Nemanja Vidic has crowned Arsenal duo William Saliba and Gabriel as two of the Premier League's best defenders.
Vidic is widely regarded as one of the top-flight's best-ever centre-backs during an eight-year spell at Old Trafford. During that time he won five Premier League titles and was named the division's player of the year twice.
That history means that he is an authoritative voice when it comes to the current crop of top-flight defenders. It is Saliba and Gabriel who have caught his eye the most, with Arsenal on track to end the season with the Premier League's best defensive record.
Together, the duo have helped the Gunners to concede just 28 goals and keep a league-best 17 clean sheets. Vidic was particularly impressed with their performance against title rivals Manchester City when they effectively shut down star striker Erling Haaland.
“I like talking about the young ones. Micky van de Ven [at Tottenham Hotspur]. He’s fast, strong and good in the air, and has capabilities to really improve. The two from Arsenal [William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes] are doing well," Vidic told The Times.
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"Watching them, I feel they like defending and want the clean sheet. I like the mentality they show. And they are a partnership. That is important. Arsenal, this season, have not been conceding many goals.
"The situation when they went to City and didn’t concede — that was a statement of Arsenal as a team. That they want to win the trophy. Not just play nice. I think that’s good. Finally!”
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Vidic picked out Arsenal centre-backs Gabriel and William Saliba (Getty Images)Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has also been extremely impressed with his centre-back duo. After the City game, the Spaniard hailed his side for keeping a clean sheet against the reigning champions.
"Huge – it’s extremely difficult to do that but that tells you the commitment of every player, the discipline that they showed and how they compete. One thing is to play a football match and the other is to compete [in] it," he said.
"Against this team, we did that today really, really well. It was a thrilling game, a really tough match, a very demanding opponent but I think we competed really well. Defensively, I think we were outstanding.
"We had to go and put them under pressure higher up the pitch. I think we were really good and created a lot of difficulties. When they are that good that they get you in this low block, it’s very difficult to get out of that.
"They drop a lot of players and I think we prevented the spaces really well and that’s the difficulty. It’s the first time they haven’t scored at home in three years, so that’s the outstanding team that they are."
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