‘Magnificent’ – Ian Wright gives verdict on Gabriel Jesus and William Saliba debuts as Arsenal beat Crystal Palace

Ian Wright praised ‘fantastic’ Gabriel Jesus and ‘magnificent’ William Saliba after the pair made their debuts in Arsenal’s opening-day victory over Crystal Palace.

The Gunners, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, began their 2022-23 campaign with a 2-0 win over Patrick Vieira’s Palace at Selhurst Park.

Mikel Arteta’s side came flying out of the blocks and took the lead on 20 minutes as Gabriel Martinelli headed home a neat corner routine to register the first goal of the new campaign.

Crystal Palace rallied either side of half-time but Arsenal were able to resist the home side’s advances before putting the game to bed thanks to a Marc Guehi own goal.

Jesus, Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko all made their debuts for the north London side and Wright was impressed with Arsenal’s performance as they signalled their intent for the season with a hard-fought win.

Asked to rate Saliba’s debut, Wright told Premier League productions: ‘Magnificent. He was fantastic tonight. He looks like a brand new signing.

‘Mikel and Edu have got to take a lot of credit for what they’ve done with this guy. This guy is someone we’ve always thought would be special.

‘Even when they sent him out on loan there were fans calling for him to come back. He’s a full international now, he looks composed, calm, he’s got great pace.

‘It’s a decision that was magnificent from Arsenal. It would have been easy to bring him back last year but they gave him the extra season and now he looks like he’s been playing in that position for years.

‘At 21, to go to Crystal Palace for the first game of the season and play like that… you don’t want to get carried away but that’s some performance.’

Saliba completed a £27m move to Arsenal in 2019 but was making his