William Saliba believes Arsenal teammate Jurrien Timber is the best right-back in the world, and at the very least in the top-two.
Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber has been on top form so far this season, impressing on a weekly basis in a very consistent manner.
The right-back was impressive again on Tuesday night against Crystal Palace, performing excellently throughout the match before scoring the best penalty of the night in the subsequent shootout.
Arsenal teammate William Saliba spoke to CBS Sports afterwards, and he was asked whether he believes Timber is the best right-back in world football.
“Yeah, by a mile,” Saliba answered. “For me, by a mile, he’s so, so good. One against one it’s impossible to beat him, and offensively as well he’s so good. I hope he will keep going like this and he’s a top, top, top player.”
When pressed on whether he really believes Timber is the very best in the entire world, Saliba responded: “One or two for sure. It depends… but one or two.”
Timber may have put in a strong performance on Tuesday night, but it was Saliba who earned the Player of the Match award for his display in the penalty-shootout victory.
The centre-back also converted his spot-kick, and he told Sky Sports he wants the team to make amends for their performances in this competition last season.
“We have to learn the lesson from last season,” Saliba said. “We got to the semi-final last season, but we lost the two games, so now this season, we want to win both games and go to the final.”
The Gunners will face Chelsea in those two games, with the first on January 14th at Stamford Bridge and the second at the Emirates Stadium on February 3rd.