William Saliba: Arsenal man ruined Mitrovic & pinged perfect pass vs Fulham

William Saliba put in another assured performance in Arsenal’s Premier League victory against Fulham on Saturday afternoon.

The Frenchman’s future looked uncertain in the summer.

Saliba had spent the 2021/22 season on loan at Marseille, where he impressed greatly.

But Mikel Arteta decided to keep him at the club and that appears to have been a wise decision.

Saliba has played a key role for Arsenal this season and he was superb as the Gunners maintained their 100% start to the season on Sunday.

The 21-year-old had a tough task of marking Aleksandar Mitrović, who has also started the season well.

But Saliba dealt with his threat magificently.

A superb defender, Saliba is also very comfortable with the ball at his feet.

And he showed that with a sublime moment in the second half against their London rivals.

The home fans held their breath when a short pass was played to Saliba. It looked like Mitrovic could knick the ball.

Just moments before, Mitrovic nicked the ball off Gabriel and went on to score.

But Saliba did not panic and made sure that did not happen again.

He showed brilliant composure to beat the Serbian striker with some nifty footwork. He then proceeded to get his head up and pick out Bukayo Saka with a pin-point 50-yard pass. It was a brilliant moment and you can watch it below…

Saliba ruins Mitrovic then sprays a diag out to Saka on left touchline pic.twitter.com/TsYHZHd38J

So classy. His stats from the game make for very impressive reading.

Per Squawka, he had a pass accuracy of 95% as he completed 91 passes. He recorded nine accurate long balls, won possession six times, won three duels and also bagged an assist.

William Saliba's game by numbers vs. Fulham:95% pass accuracy102 touches91 passes completed 9