Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin says William Saliba and Gabriel’s reaction following Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Slavia Prague in the Champions League showed the pair “live for defending and clean sheets”.

Victory at Fortuna Arena extended the Gunners’ winning run to 10 matches in all competitions.

“It was a run-of-the-mill win for all the Arsenal players so I knew everyone would go over to the 1,000 travelling fans and applaud them,” said Nevin on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily podcast.

“But the way Gabriel and Saliba looked at each other and celebrated with each other showed that this is what they love to do and live for. They live for defending and clean sheets – and, oh boy, do they do it well.

“I suspect they also turned around and celebrated with David Raya as well because he is a big part of these clean sheets.

“They were asked a few interesting questions by Slavia Prague centre-forward Tomas Chory early on, but they just never flinched. They never looked in any danger of giving up their clean sheet.

“Last year the talk was about not wanting Saka to get injured because what were Arsenal going to do without him, but this year you would shrug your shoulders about losing him.

“You look all the way through that team and Gabriel and Saliba are the only two players they need, with maybe Declan Rice being the third. Every other position and player is kind of expendable when they are on the pitch.”

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