Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has backed William Saliba to learn from his tough afternoon against Ivan Toney as he prepares to face Erling Haaland.
Saliba has excelled at Arsenal this season, starting every Premier League match to help the Gunners sit top of the Premier League.
The 21-year-old, however, had one of his most testing games so far in the 1-1 draw with Brentford on Saturday as Toney gave him a torrid time.
Saliba now needs to dust himself down and get ready to face City on Wednesday, with Pep Guardiola’s side knowing they can leapfrog Arsenal into first place if they win.
Saliba is likely to come up against City striker Haaland, who is the top scorer in the Premier League with 25 goals to his name, but Arteta is backing the young defender to hold his own.
“He (Saliba) has the physical capacity to handle that but he also needs the timing, the exposure and the experiences he had with Toney to realise how difficult it is here,” said Arteta.
“But if you put Ivan Toney against any defender in the League and you put ten balls that are coming down with snow on them, he’s probably going to beat them.
“But it’s not about that ball. It’s about what happens after as well. City are not going to be putting those type of balls but they have a goalkeeper that can put in our box, that’s for sure.”
