You ain’t seen nothing yet, insists Saliba
WILLIAM SALIBA warned that he’s not satisfied with Arsenal winning the Premier League and is already thinking about defending their title next season.
The Gunners will lift the trophy at Selhurst Park today after they ended their 22-year title drought when Manchester City drew at Bournemouth on Tuesday, which led to scenes of mass hysteria outside the Emirates Stadium.
It has resulted in a mentality shift which has helped the team believe they can defend their league title next season.
Ahead of Arsenal’s final league match at Crystal Palace today, Saliba said: ‘Last season we finished second but even when we finished second, we had the good mentality the season after to keep going and it finally paid off.
‘We didn’t give up, and we will come back again next season to try to win as well. It’s my first one, so I’m happy but I’m not full. I want more.’
On the moment he believed Arsenal would win the title, the 25-year-old France centre back said: ‘I started to feel we could do it in March. After the game against Everton (a 2-0 win sealed by late goals from Viktor Gyokeres and Max Dowman), it was clear to me that we would win the league.
‘When we came back from the international break it was a bit hard. But we kept going, we believed in ourselves, even after the loss against City (in April). And now we are champions.’
There is still a further chance of silverware this season, against Paris Saint-Germain in Saturday’s Champions League final in Budapest, as the Gunners look to win Europe’s premier competition for the first time in their 140-year history.
Saliba is well aware of the threat PSG carry, having been beaten by them in the Champions League semi-finals last season — and he knows many of their squad from France duty.
He added: ‘They were scary last year, and they’re still scary this year. So, nothing has changed. We know that if we want to beat them, we have to be 100 per cent.
‘They have a great attack. We know if we want to win we have to be at our best next Saturday because they are so, so good. We have the best defence this season. And when you are the best, you want to play the best so we are so happy to have attackers like this to play against us next Saturday and I hope we will win that battle.
‘We have to give everything.’