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Crystal Palace centre-back Rob Holding has praised former Arsenal teammate William Saliba's strength and speed, claiming that it is virtually impossible to dispossess him.
Saliba has been one of the Premier League's best defenders this season, averaging 1.1 tackles, 2.0 clearances, 3.4 duels won and 6.1 recoveries per game. He has also completed 93% of his passes.
This has helped the Gunners keep seven clean sheets in 20 matches. They hold the second-best defensive record in the Premier League (20 goals conceded), only behind leaders Liverpool (18 conceded).
Holding, who spent last season playing with Saliba at the Emirates Stadium, has now praised the latter for his physical attributes. The Englishman noted, though, that his former teammate doesn't go heavy on exercises like the bench press or pull-up.
He said on the Harry's Gym Chat podcast (as quoted by TBR Football):
“You’ve got someone like Saliba who’s a unit, but you never see him in the gym benching, you never see him. I’ve seen him do pull-ups and it’s not the best technique and there’s not many of them (laughs).
“But then you try and get the ball off him, no chance! You try to run past him, he’ll just go: ‘Nah, you stay there, I’m going to get the ball’. And he’s rapid as well, he’s fast.”
Saliba was notably excellent in the 2022-23 season, his first in the Premier League, as well. He helped Arsenal take a commanding lead atop the standings before his injury compromised their defensive robustness.
The Frenchman missed their final 11 league games, with Mikel Arteta's men conceding 18 times in those outings as Manchester City beat them to the title. Prior to that, they had let in 25 goals in the 27 games Saliba featured in.
William Saliba and Rob Holding played 10 games together for Arsenal last season
William Saliba's primary partner in central defense last season was Gabriel Magalhaes. Rob Holding, meanwhile, started a mere six Premier League games last term, coming off the bench eight times, often to close out tight games.
He and Saliba never started the same league game, featuring together for only 13 regulation minutes, but plenty of stoppage-time minutes, across seven matches. However, they did start two UEFA Europa League matches and an EFL Cup third-round fixture.
The first of those games was away to Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League, with Arsenal winning 1-0. The other European encounter ended in a 2-0 away defeat to PSV Eindhoven, while the EFL Cup game also saw Mikel Arteta's side suffer a loss, this time by a 3-1 margin.
Overall, Arsenal won eight times and lost twice last season when Saliba and Holding received minutes together.
