Mikel Arteta calls it a “love for defending” and there was no better example of Arsenal’s new mindset than in the final few seconds of their 3-0 victory at Brighton on Saturday. The match was into stoppage time when Gabriel Magalhaes, the Arsenal centre-back, blocked a powerful shot from Brighton’s Joao Pedro.
Gabriel’s instant reaction was to roar towards the sky, both fists clenched in delight at his own challenge. Then he was mobbed. Leandro Trossard, William Saliba, Jorginho, Takehiro Tomiyasu and David Raya all sprinted towards the defender. It was a celebration that was genuinely more intense and emotional than the reaction to Trossard’s goal, which had been scored around five minutes earlier.
“That’s really pleasing for all the coaches to see that reaction from the team at 3-0,” said Arteta. “It’s great because that tells you how much they want it, the importance and the focus they put in every single ball. That was an extra bonus.”
Arsenal’s “love for defending”, combined with their ability to control matches with the ball, has led to them becoming the Premier League’s most formidable defensive team. They have conceded just 24 goals all season, the fewest in the division, and have shipped only four goals in 11 league matches in 2024.
As of Saturday night, Arteta’s side are on a run of four consecutive clean sheets in all competitions. Including extra time in their Champions League match against Porto, they have not conceded a single goal in 435 minutes of football.
Gabriel has played every minute of those games. So has Saliba, his partner. Together, they are the league’s standout defensive pairing. Behind them, Raya has proven why Arteta considered him to be an upgrade on Aaron Ramsdale. In front of them, Declan Rice is shutting down opposition midfields every week.
If last year’s title charge was built on wild attacking football, then this year’s push is built on the sturdy foundations provided by these players. Arsenal are powerful, organised, quick and determined. They can press high, winning the ball in the opposition half, or they can sit deep and absorb pressure.
When Arteta and the club’s executives sat down in the summer last year to assess their 2022-23 campaign, it would not have been difficult for them to identify the overarching problem. They would have seen that the issue was certainly not in attack, where Arsenal had scored 88 goals. Over the previous 20 years, the Premier League champions had scored an average of 85. They had created a title-winning frontline.
The concern was the “goals against” column, which read 43. Over the previous 20 years, the Premier League champions had conceded an average of just 29 goals over the course of a full season. Arsenal had not, therefore, created a title-winning defence.
It is hardly a surprise, then, that they promptly spent £105 million on the best defensive midfielder in the league. They also committed £30 million on Raya (to be paid this summer) and more than £30 million on another defender, Jurrien Timber (who has been injured). Clearly, they knew that their own half of the pitch was the area in which they needed to strengthen.
‘The key is everybody goes 100mph for every ball’
Of course, it is more complicated than simply spending money on new defensive players. Saliba and Gabriel were at the club last season, after all. But the ferocity of the defending has evidently gone up a level this season, and the attacking players are buying into it too.
“The key is that everybody goes 100 miles per hour for every ball,” Arteta told Sky Sports last month. “Our strikers, our wingers, our attacking midfielders – they have a love for defending.”
There is a startling difference between the end of last season, when Arsenal collapsed in the title race without the injured Saliba, and their current defensive form. In the final 10 matches of last season, Arsenal conceded an average of 1.7 goals per game. Over their last 10 league matches this season, that rate has plummeted to 0.4 goals per game.
When compared to the rest of the division, too, there is no other team that even comes close. In 2024, Arsenal’s expected goals against is just 4.71 (over 11 matches). The next best defence in the division in that time is Manchester City, who have an expected goals against of 12.28 (over 12 matches).
If Arsenal do go on to win this title race, it will surely be their defensive record that makes all the difference. For years, and especially this time last year, their defending was their biggest weakness. Now, with Gabriel celebrating tackles as if they were winners and Saliba standing strong beside him, it has become their biggest strength.
