Micah Richards has praised William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes enthusiastically after Arsenal’s goalless draw at Manchester City, applauding the pair for ‘neutralizing the threat’ posed by Pep Guardiola’s ‘predictable’ attack.
Fans have witnessed the closest title race in over ten years this season, with Arsenal sitting above Liverpool on goal difference heading into the weekend’s Premier League action.
After Liverpool came from behind to beat Brighton, Sunday afternoon’s draw in Manchester ensured Jurgen Klopp’s men leapfrogged the Gunners at the top with nine games remaining of the season.
Erling Haaland appeared frustrated up front at the Etihad and received heavy criticism in the Sky Sports studio from former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, who stated the Norwegian’s performance resembled that of a ‘League Two player’.
Ex-City defender Richards agreed that his former team were far from their best in attack but emphasized the impact of Arsenal’s ‘excellent’ center-back pair as he reflected on the game for The Rest Is Football podcast.
‘It had the big build-up, it was the game that everyone wanted to see. Are Arsenal going to be a more improved team from last season when they went to the Etihad and Man City won that game?’ Richards said.
‘I thought Arsenal were exceptional defensively, especially Saliba and Gabriel. But the whole game was just a little bit dull, to say the least.
‘Tactically canceling each other out is probably the best word for it and City just look a little bit off the pace in terms of sharpness in that final third.’
The former England international added: ‘At times, City were a little bit predictable, especially when you’ve got someone who has been alongside Pep in terms of what he wants to do in [Mikel] Arteta.
‘I just thought Arsenal nullified that threat to perfection.
‘[Bukayo] Saka was going really deep on one side, really helping out. Man City, with all the possession they had, just couldn’t unlock the door at times.’
Asked whether Saliba and Gabriel are among the best center-back pairings in the Premier League, Richards replied: ‘We talked about [Micky] van de Ven and [Cristian] Romero and then Van de Ven got injured.
‘There are some really good pairings. But when you’re watching from a defender’s perspective, you know Man City are going to have a lot of the ball but what is your concentration going to be like at the key moments? And I just thought they got it spot on.
‘Positioning, when to go, when to drop off and they were basically saying, “Okay, you have the ball wide and we’ll flood the center of the field”, and it was just amazing.
‘You’ve got to give credit to Gabriel. Saliba got man of the match and we always talk about Saliba and how well he’s done, but Gabriel has improved so much as well and become a real leader of that back four.’
Alan Shearer, the player who has scored the most goals in the history of the Premier League, said that Saliba and Gabriel were 'extremely impressive' in stopping players like Haaland, Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne.
‘Wow. Huge. They were very strong. How to play against Haaland…’ the former Newcastle and England striker said.
‘When you’re facing Bernardo Silva, when you’re facing Haaland, when Doku comes on, when Grealish comes on, De Bruyne, all these exceptional players, and you know you have to get everything right, you have to be in sync, you have to have your movement right.
‘Everything about Arsenal I thought was perfect but those two were extremely impressive in the middle of defense.’
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