Photo: ‘Very promising’ Arsenal 21-year-old absolutely towers over Arteta in training pre-Zurich
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been putting his players through their paces ahead of their final Europa League group game.
The Gunners host FC Zurich at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night.
Having missed the opportunity to wrap up qualification for the last 16 last week, Arsenal will look to finish the job.
The Gunners remain top of Group A despite losing to PSV Eindhoven a week ago.
Meanwhile, the best Zurich can hope for is a spot in the Europa Conference League.
On Wednesday, Arsenal shared photos of their latest training session at London Colney ahead of the game.
William Saliba also took part and, in some pictures, you can see just how much of a powerhouse he is.
Arteta is seen talking to the 6ft 4in defender, who absolutely towers over the Arsenal manager.
Arteta playing the long game
Saliba has been an absolute revelation for Arsenal this season.
The 21-year-old joined the Gunners all the way back in 2019, but had to wait three years to make his club debut.
In that time, the Frenchman took in three loan spells, all in his home country.
For a while, Arsenal fans were questioning Arteta’s reluctance to make use of Saliba at the Emirates Stadium.
But it proved the right call as the youngster developed into the player he is today.
Saliba is now one of the first names on Arteta’s team sheet, starting every Premier League game for Arsenal this term.
The “very promising” centre-back’s efforts have helped the Gunners go top of the league table and qualify for the Europa League knockouts.
It remains to be seen whether Arteta opts for Saliba against Zurich – he has only played two out of five EL games this termseason.
