William Saliba is not perfect, though he has been nearly faultless this season for Arsenal, and his teammates are honest with the defender when it comes to his ability. Whilst the rest of the world admires his composure and maturity for a 21-year-old that hadn't kicked a ball in the Premier League two months ago, his colleagues are keeping him grounded.
Although the rest of Mikel Arteta's backline is far from experienced, there are a good number of games, but not necessarily at high-performance levels. Saliba has slotted in like he was there all along. He's passed 100 senior club matches now and will be set to go well beyond double that in the years to come.
As a new player to the league, despite joining Arsenal three years ago, Saliba looks at home at the heart of a defence with Ben White shifted to right-back and Gabriel Magalhães. His eight league appearances have yielded two goals and one assist already, along with an even more impressive seven wins.
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There have only been three clean sheets, though, and they have all come away from home. The goals conceded have largely been outweighed by Gabriel Jesus scoring more at the other end, but the clinical counterattacking nature of Manchester United got the better of Arsenal and Harry Kane's penalty equaliser in the North London Derby threatened to undermine a promising first-half at the Emirates.
The response ensured this wasn't the case, but the atmosphere and raised levels at the club and from Arteta has come from being extra picky on the minute details. Aaron Ramsdale is one of the most animated players on the pitch no matter his involvement and is often, as keepers are, scolding his defence for making mistakes.
Keeping each other accountable and with a grasp on the reality behind performances and results is a squad environment that will help push Arsenal on, and even with Saliba doing an impressive job to limit Kante, Richarlison and Son Heung-Min, Ramsdale was critical of some of his defending, in a positive manor though. He said: "He is a young boy so still makes mistakes, so at the minute it is either Ben (White), myself, Gabriel or Thomas Partey digging him out, and he is digging other people out as well.
"That is the main thing at the minute, our mistakes aren't leading to too many things, and that is the sign of a team with good characters in and around that back five. He has fit in really well," said the Englishman. "It is a credit to him that he has been put straight into the team. He is a bit of a Rolls-Royce with the way he moves, and he has never seemed phased."
Saliba was part of a panicked Arsenal defence that was rushed following Granit Xhaka's failed clearance and saw Ramsdale concede with Tottenham's first true chance of the game after Gabriel Magalhães' rash challenge. The improvement of Ben White, now playing at right-back, has helped to sure up the defence, and the group as a whole are functioning well, especially considering the attacking force also coming from midfield.
The key now may well be to keep holding players responsible for the small errors that don't lead to goals in the hope that it can help to eradicate mistakes before they start to have a bigger impact on games.
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