Mikel Arteta finally put his faith in William Saliba by handing the young Frenchman his Premier League debut at Crystal Palace.
Saliba cost £27million as a largely untested teenager when arriving from Saint-Etienne in the summer of 2019 and duly spent time out on loan at his former club, Nice and Marseille. His displays for OM last season saw him named Ligue 1’s Young Player of the Year, while also leading to senior France honours, putting him in contention for a World Cup place with Les Bleus.
Marseille had been keen to make a deal permanent this summer, but Arteta - who had previously had reservations over keeping Saliba as part of his first-team squad - made clear that he was not for sale and would be keeping him as part of his squad this term.
After shining in a 4-0 pre-season win over Chelsea in America last month, Arteta admitted his opinion had been changed by Saliba’s development in the past 12 months.
“We will keep developing him, he has a huge potential, he is already a top player and we have to make him even better.”
On opening night, with Takehiro Tomiyasu out due to injury, he duly put his money where his mouth is.
That meant shifting England centre-back Ben White from the heart of defence - where he was first-choice alongside Gabriel last term - out to right-back. It is not a role unfamiliar to White, who played there regularly at former club Brighton, but it is not his preferred position.
It would perhaps have been easier for Arteta to select Cedric Soares at right-back - the Portuguese was named on the bench - and leave last season's central pairing together. But having deemed Saliba is now more than ready to feature, he gave him his head at Selhurst Park.
New signings Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus both started after their summer switches from Manchester City. Unsurprisingly, the Brazilian striker led the attack, but it was interesting to see the versatile Zinchenko given the nod over Kieran Tierney at left-back.
Martin Odegaard captained the side for the first time since being confirmed as the club’s new captain.
Arsenal starting XI at Crystal Palace: Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Jesus.
