William Saliba has called on Arsenal to identify the missing ingredient in their pursuit of a first Premier League title since 2004.
Mikel Arteta’s have finished second in the title race for the past three seasons, twice missing out narrowly to Manchester City before Liverpool pipped them to the post last term.
Andrea Berta, the Italian football executive who joined the club as sporting director earlier this year, has delivered several signings over the summer to help Arsenal bridge the gap.
Sweden striker Viktor Gyökeres was signed from Sporting in a deal worth up to £64m, satisfying the perennial cry for a recognised front man, while other new arrivals include Martin Zubimendi, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Christian Norgaard, Noni Madueke and Cristhian Mosquera.
With the club having upheld its end of the bargain by strengthening the squad, Saliba believes the onus is now on the players to take the final step towards a first league title since the Invincibles swept all before them in 2003/04.
What did William Saliba say about Arsenal’s need to improve?
“We’ve finished second for three years in a row, and we know that we always miss something,” said the France defender, who helped Arsenal to secure a 1-0 win at Manchester United on the opening weekend of the league campaign.
“Now it’s a new season, we have to see what we didn’t do well enough to win the league.
“We won the first game and of course we want to win the league, and we will give everything. We have to try to be even better than the last three seasons to win this league.”
Arsenal were second-best for long periods against Ruben Amorim’s United, but showed resilience to maintain the advantage afforded by Riccardo Calafiori’s early header.
Arteta later acknowledged the Gunners were not at their best but, for all the scrutiny occasioned by the performance, Saliba is confident that the new arrivals have strengthened the team.
‘We are already better’
“We know that the new players who came to help us, and I’m sure that they will help us to win some trophies,” said the 24-year-old, who was named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year for a third straight season. “Of course, we are already better with them. Let’s see.”
Nor was Saliba perturbed by the somewhat fortuitous nature of the winning goal, scored by Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori after Altay Bayindir, the United goalkeeper, failed to clear a corner under pressure from Saliba.
“We knew that we didn’t play our best football, but at the end we knew that it was the first game at Old Trafford with some new signings from them,” said Saliba.
“We knew that they will be good, and they were good. They caused us a lot of problems but, at the end, we are happy to win this game and to keep a clean sheet.”
Despite an injury to Kai Havertz that could see Arsenal make a move for Chelsea front man Nicolas Jackson, Saliba and his team-mates will be hoping for more of the same when the Gunners entertain Leeds United at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
