Arsenal centre-back William Saliba has committed his future to Arsenal amidst speculation that Real Madrid could make a move for the 23-year-old.
The Gunners have experienced somewhat of a resurgence in the Premier League over the past three games, with emphatic wins against Sporting Lisbon, West Ham United and Manchester United bolstering confidence amongst fans and players.
Indeed, the club had fallen nine points behind first-placed Liverpool in the race for the Premier League title, but they managed to reduce that gap to seven points after their 2-0 win against Man United on Wednesday.
There was more good news for Gunners fans after defender Saliba confirmed that he does indeed envisage himself staying in North London with Mikel Arteta for some time.
When asked about whether he sees his future at Arsenal during a trip to Ashmount Primary School in Islington, the centre-back told reporters: "Yeah of course, I feel at home. I signed for the club five years ago but it's only my third season and I'm enjoying everything - the players, the staff and the fans. I feel at home so of course, why not?"
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Saliba and Arsenal in 2024-25
Saliba found the back of the net against Man United from a corner and helped his side keep their fifth clean sheet in 14 Premier League fixtures.
However, Arsenal have already conceded 14 times in the top flight this term and are on track to concede 38 goals, nine more than they did in 2023-24.
It should be noted that Arteta's side have been reduced to 10 men in three separate league matches this season, including against Bournemouth on October 19, a match in which Saliba himself was sent off in the first half.
The centre-back has acknowledged the need to improve, saying: "Since we've been back, we've been playing better football and we have to keep going. We're so happy to be scoring goals but we concede a lot of goals, as well.
"It's not good enough, especially last weekend [against West Ham] when we were winning 4-0, we didn't have to concede two goals just after. I think we have to do much better defensively."
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Title charge with Saliba?
The Gunners have the opportunity to close the gap on leaders Liverpool to just four points on Sunday should they defeat Fulham, but Liverpool would have a game in hand.
Additionally, if 90 points is seen as a benchmark for winning the title, then Arteta's team would need to average 2.6 points per game from now until the end of the season, a figure that would be the equivalent of 98 points over the course of an entire campaign.
Despite the difficulties the Gunners face, Saliba has not given up hope of trumping Liverpool to the title, telling reporters: "Everything is possible. The season is very long and we've experienced that in the past two years. We just have to focus on ourselves, we are still only in December so there are still a lot of things that can happen.
"We have to win some trophies. We haven't done it yet but we will give everything to achieve that."
Arsenal boss Arteta has faced more criticism this season, especially in light of the fact that Arne Slot's Reds have been the ones to so far take advantage of champions Manchester City's struggles in 2024-25.
Lewis Nolan
