Gary Neville has praised Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka as the Premier League’s greatest defensive winger.
The Gunners have received further accolades following their 1-0 victory over Tottenham in Sunday’s North London Derby, with defender Gabriel Magalhaes scoring the game’s only goal.
Mikel Arteta’s team was missing key players Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, but they put up an excellent defensive performance against their fiercest rivals’ home ground.
Arteta was pleased with his team’s tenacity, praising them for being willing to undertake “the ugly things” to get the job done.
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Arsenal has just conceded once this season, giving them the joint-best record alongside Liverpool. No team in the league conceded fewer than Arsenal.
While the strength of their back four has undoubtedly been underlined, Neville was quick to praise Saka, as well as fellow wingers Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli.
“That was a very good preparation game for next Sunday [against Manchester City], because they’ve got to go and do the same again,” he told Sky Sports afterward.
“I felt the defensive compactness was impressive; Saka went off near the end, but I don’t think there’s a finer wide guy in the league in terms of defense.
“Got to hand it to [Gabriel] Martinelli and to [Leandro] Trossard when they play now in that wide-left area, they get back in.”
Neville praised the wingers: “Some of the doubling up that they did with Ben White and [Jurrien] Timber was outstanding.”
Arsenal are hopeful Saka will be healthy for a crucial week in the club’s season after being substituted against Spurs.
Arteta’s side travels to Atalanta on Thursday as the Champions League gets back underway before a trip to Manchester City on Sunday.
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