26 November 2023 , 04:00
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Rio Ferdinand believes the centre-back pairing of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes will give Arsenal the edge over Premier League title rivals Liverpool.
Just two points separate Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the table after 13 games and Ferdinand believes the Gunners are the team most likely to dethrone the defending champions.
City have won the league three years in a row but Arsenal did challenge them last season, finishing just five points behind Pep Guardiola's side. Arsenal are currently top of the league, having leapfrogged City and Liverpool thanks to a 1-0 win over Brentford.
Speaking after the game, Ferdinand was full of praise for Saliba and Gabriel. "Me and Crouchy were sitting here thinking about how good these two are, they want to be aggressive, they want to defend with that high line," he told TNT Sports.
"They have the best defensive record in the league at the moment and Declan Rice is perfect in front of them in the middle at the moment. That little triangle is going to be key for them going forward and it's how they're going to be successful.
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"In today's game having pace is how you get ahead of the other teams, especially at the back. It means you can play that high line and for the last two seasons, Brentford's attack has given teams so many problems.
"Toney, Wissa and Mbeumo, they've all given teams nightmares because of their pace and aggressive run-ins. Today, one of them gets past Saliba - who is there to mop it up? Gabriel. He gives it back to Saliba and they work it out between them.
Ferdinand has hailed William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)"To win anything, you have to have a centre-back pairing that you can trust. They're the reason why I put them above Liverpool in the title race and they're why they can challenge City this year."
Reflecting on the result, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta hailed his side's resilience and patience. He said: "We are so happy, I think we fully deserved to win the game.
"I thought we played extraordinarily well, we had some big moments, we should've scored much earlier than that but it's a tough place to come to, they never make it easy. But we showed a lot of resilience, a lot of belief, a lot of patience when we needed it and it's a big win."