EPL: Gabriel Jesus names Arsenal teammate responsible for title loss to Manchester City

Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus has blamed Arsenal's title loss to Manchester City last season on William Saliba's injury.

Saliba, 22, missed the last 11 games of the season following his injury against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League.

In the absence of the Frenchman, the cracks in the Gunners' defence came to the fore as Mikel Arteta's side began to drop points from winning positions.

Rob Holding was drafted in to replace the former Marseille man but his presence couldn't yield the needed results as Arsenal eventually surrendered the title race to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

Speaking on Brazilian Podcast with Paulo Filho and Tiago Damulakis, the ex-Man City striker pointed out the importance of Saliba to the Gunners set up

“When he plays, we concede few goals, when he doesn’t play, the number (goals conceded) increases.

“When I got injured, Eddie replaced me very well. Then we signed Leo (Trossard). We kept the pace.


“But when Saliba got injured, it was complicated. The other defenders are good, but we were playing in a certain way. Look at the stats we concede a lot less with him.

Mikel Arteta's side finished the campaign with 5 points behind Champions Man City.

WDN