10 March 2024 , 08:23
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William Saliba admits Arsenal made it clear they had to win the second-half in their clash with Brentford as they put Aaron Ramdale's individual mistake behind them.
The Gunners eventually secured a late win, courtesy of a Kai Havertz goal in the final five minutes. The three points lifts them to the top of the Premier League as they await the result of Liverpool's clash with Manchester City. For a long period though it looked as if Arsenal would drop two points.
Ramsdale returned to the starting XI with usual No 1 David Raya unable to play against the team he's on loan from. The Englishman made a huge error as he took too long to clear, allowing Yoane Wissa to slide in and deflect the ball into the net for Brentford's equaliser.
Saliba though insists they all make mistakes, citing his own recent errors, but backs his team-mates to do the necessary to ensure those blunders don't prove to be costly.
He told beIN Sports: "We said we have to come out in the second half to win. Everyone has made mistakes, in the last month I made two mistakes and my team saved me... so second half is the reverse, because they had three good chances and he saved us, so that's a good mentality from the team."
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Ramsdale's outings this term have been limited and his lack of match practice potentially caught up with him as he looked to implement Arsenal's standard system of playing out from the back. The goalkeeper though did redeem himself with some big second-half saves.
The match winner echoed Saliba's thoughts as Havertz told BBC Sport: "Everyone in our team all made errors during the season, sometimes when you are a goalkeeper it can look worse. We are all in this together. We spoke about it in the dressing room at half time and turned it around."
Kai Havertz came up with a late winner for the Gunners (Getty Images)Mikel Arteta was full of praise for his goalkeeper, who is expected to go back to his understudy role when Arsenal next play. The Spaniard has been big on hailing the courage of his players and was impressed with Ramsdale's character.
He said: "Really happy, especially because he did exactly what he is, which is a person with a huge personality and courage, very determined. An error is part of football, it’s hard to react about it, especially for the keepers because it’s probably the most difficult position but he did it in an amazing way. I am not surprised because the whole team and whole stadium was behind him. He has that respect and admiration and really wanted to win for him that moment and he really helped us to win the game."
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