However, their form took a nose dive in April and despite having an 11-point lead over Manchester City at one point, the Gunners lost out on the league to Pep Guardiola and co.
A number of factors have been pointed at when trying to dissect Arsenal’s collapse, including the lack of experience on and off the pitch.
But it is hard to argue that William Saliba’s injury did not play a major role in Arsenal falling apart.
Saliba missed Arsenal’s final 11 games of the league season. In that time, the Gunners failed to win six matches.
In contrast, Arsenal only failed to win six matches in the previous 27 games Saliba played in.
And now, Gabriel Jesus has also been outlining the importance of Saliba to Arsenal’s team:
“When I got injured, Eddie replaced me very well. Then we signed Leo (Trossard). We kept the pace.
“But when Saliba got injured, it was complicated. The other defenders are good, but we were playing in a certain way. Look at the stats we concede a lot less with him.”
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