Konsa's late heroics vs Hull make him top flight's best summer signing
Arsenal ground out an ugly 2-0 win over Hull City on Saturday, and while Martin Odegaard's winning goal and Noni Madueke's contribution will grab the headlines, it was Ezri Konsa who kept Arsenal level when it mattered most.
With Hull pushing hard for an equaliser in the final five minutes, the England international defender nodded away two dangerous crosses, one from either flank, to preserve Arsenal's clean sheet. Earlier in the second half, an organised Hull side broke forward through Mohamed-Ali Cho, only for Konsa to intervene and snuff out the danger.
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A statement of defensive dominance
According to football.london, Arsenal have won eight of the nine Premier League games Konsa has featured in since his summer move from Aston Villa, keeping seven clean sheets in that run, four of them in a row. The club have now recorded seven shutouts from their opening ten league games this season, a mark only three teams in Premier League history have matched at this stage of a campaign.
Konsa's individual numbers from the Hull win back up the broader trend. He made 12 defensive contributions and won all seven of his duels, both aerial and on the ground, six of which came in the first half alone. Eyebrows were raised when Arsenal paid an initial £55million (including add ons) for the 29 year old, but that fee now looks far more reasonable given his impact alongside Gabriel Magalhaes at the back.
Saliba waits his turn
Perhaps the clearest sign of how highly Mikel Arteta rates Konsa's partnership with Gabriel is where William Saliba finds himself. The Frenchman, who has been out for three and a half months, was an unused substitute in Prague on Tuesday and was not even included in the matchday squad against Hull, where managers are restricted to nine substitutes in the Premier League compared to Europe's wider allowance.
Saliba played a half in a behind closed doors friendly last week and will instead feature for Arsenal's U21s against Aston Villa at Boreham Wood this weekend to build up match sharpness. Arteta has indicated that the 25 year old is keen to return to first team action, but for now Konsa's form represents a genuine barrier to a recall.
In seasons gone by, losing a player of Saliba's calibre to a long term injury would have been considered a significant blow for Arsenal's title hopes. This time, the club have been able to absorb that absence without any visible drop off defensively, a reflection of the strength added by Konsa's arrival.
Arsenal's forward line has not always clicked this season, but the solidity at the back, with Konsa now central to it, has kept results coming regardless. How Arteta manages the selection headache at centre back once Saliba is fully fit remains one of the more intriguing questions facing the club as the campaign progresses.
