William Saliba says Arsenal’s dressing room made it clear they needed to win the second half against Brentford following Aaron Ramsdale’s goalkeeping error.
Ramsdale was substituting for Arsenal’s regular number one David Raya, who was ineligible to face the club he is currently on loan from, and saw his side go one goal to the good through Declan Rice’s fine header from a Ben White cross.
But moments before half-time, disaster struck for the 25-year-old. Ramsdale dallied on the ball for too long and allowed Brentford striker Yoane Wissa to slide in and deflect his attempted clearance into the back of Arsenal’s net.
The goal silenced the Emirates Stadium heading into the half-time interval, but Saliba told beIN SPORTS after Arsenal came back to win the game through Kai Havertz’s late winner that the dressing room message to Ramsdale was clear.
“We said we have to come out in the second half to win,” he said. “Everyone has made mistakes, in the last month I made two mistakes and my team saved me… so second half is the reverse, because they had three good chances and [Ramsdale] saved us, so that’s a good mentality from the team.”
Ramsdale also received the backing of manager Mikel Arteta, who embraced his goalkeeper on the field at full-time after a string of fine second-half saves kept Arsenal level before Havertz’s late winner.
“Really happy, especially because he did exactly what he is, which is a person with a huge personality and courage, very determined,” Arteta said.
“An error is part of football, it’s hard to react about it, especially for the keepers because it’s probably the most difficult position but he did it in an amazing way. I am not surprised because the whole team and whole stadium was behind him. He has that respect and admiration and really wanted to win for him that moment and he really helped us to win the game.”
Arsenal moved top of the Premier League table with the win – their eighth consecutive Premier League success – and they will now watch on closely as title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City do battle at Anfield on Sunday.
