Arsenal star became modern-day Vieira

Arsenal have one game left. Only one game left to win the Premier League for the first time in 22 years. In fact, you might be less than 24 hours away from winning it all.

The Gunners secured a 1-0 win against Burnley on Monday night to maintain solid pole position and lift the trophy on Sunday night.

Manchester City are still in the chase, but a win away to Bournemouth on Tuesday night means Mikel Arteta’s side will be crowned champions.

It was a long and difficult season. Last night’s victory over Michael Jackson’s Clarets summed up that season well.

How Arsenal beat Burnley

We would say this wasn’t a vintage performance from Arsenal, but in the context of how this campaign played out, it was.

Admittedly, it hasn’t been the adventurous football we’ve come to love under manager Arsene Wenger, and it’s rarely been the case under Arteta. But it was expendable and they got over the line thanks to further set pieces.

Arsenal have scored from set-pieces in 19 of their Premier League games this season (50% of the club’s games). While some may bemoan their reliance on set-pieces, they are a key part of their arsenal.

Truth be told, even though the Gunners saw a lot of the ball, they weren’t able to create much from open play. Still, the combination of Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz proved to be the trump card.

There were a series of short corners early in the first period, but in the end he drove one into a dangerous area and it paid off nicely. Saka’s delivery was perfect as always and Havertz jumped home like a salmon out of fresh water.

The German has endured a difficult season, but this was one of his biggest moments in Arsenal colors to date. Perhaps he was surprised when he started speaking.

Victor Gökeres has been one of the club’s most in-form players, scoring nine goals in his last 13 league games this season and scoring twice against Fulham a few weeks ago.

But in such important games, Havertz is often trusted and on Monday night he showed exactly why he was chosen to start.

Leandro Trossard hit the post in the first half and Saka curled his own curl into goal, but Burnley were relatively untroubled.

Havertz was lucky not to get red for the rushing tackle, allowing Burnley to fight back in the second half. However, the visitors never seemed to cause any problems for David Raya, although the longer the game dragged on at 1-0 the more likely there was to be an upset.

At the back, they kept their 32nd clean sheet in all competitions this season, six more than any team in Europe’s top five leagues. Gabriel is someone who often receives praise, but the man next to him deserves even more praise than he’s getting.

Arsenal’s modern Vieira shines again

Declan Rice won the Man of the Match award that night. The Englishman has long been described as Arsenal’s modern-day Patrick Vieira, and he was at the heart of everything Arsenal did well on Monday, darting forward and breaking up play with ease.

But while the midfielder is being discussed to win the division’s Player of the Year award alongside the likes of Gabriel and Raya, William Saliba also deserves to be included in the discussion.

The Frenchman took quite some time to earn his place at the Emirates after his £27 move. He had three loan spells at Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille before kicking a ball for Arsenal. However, after making his debut at the beginning of the 2022/23 season, he never looked back.

Now 25 years old, he is one of the best centre-backs in the world, if not the best. Gabriel has often been praised for his goal-scoring antics. It’s hard not to pay attention to that. But next to him are warriors, bulldozers, and human machines cut from the same cloth as a certain Vieira.

Next to Gabriel, he is the quieter of the two. He is like a silent leader, but everything he does is done very easily. In addition to the fact that they are both French, Vieira and Saliba are similar in five different traits. Presence, authority, poise, physical superiority, and aura.

Like Vieira, Saliba is the type of player you fear. You know that when you play against that player, you’re often second best.

The former may have had a more aggressive physical presence compared to Saliba’s more elegant style, but both have the same vibe. Please take on us at your own risk.

That was abundantly clear against Burnley. During that match, he won five of his nine aerial duels, completed 92% of his passes, and was only dribbled through once. This final statistic is a surprising truth, as, like Vieira, he has traditionally been a virtually impossible player to pass.

But Saliba deserves all the flowers in the world if Arsenal can continue to win the title and take home the Champions League in less than two weeks. He was a great, a rock, an absolute pillar of this Arsenal team. In another era, he might have captained this team to glory, as Vieira did more than 20 years ago.

For now, he’s happy to play the role of bridesmaid to Rice, Gabriel and others.