William Saliba reveals motivational half-time talk to Aaron Ramsdale as Arsenal defender insists goalkeeper ‘saved us’ despite first-half clanger against Brentford

Ramsdale was given a rare start in goal for Arsenal as Premier League rules prevented first-choice shot stopper David Raya - on loan from Brentford - from playing against his parent club. It was not all smooth for Ramsdale, though, as he gifted the Bees an equalising goal at the end of the first-half. When the Arsenal players emerged for the second half with the game tied at 1-1, they formed a huddle and Saliba has revealed the theme of the team talk that may have inspired some crucial saves from Ramsdale over the next 45 minutes.

He told beIN Sports: "We said we have to come out in the second half to win. 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 he saved us, so that's a good mentality from the team."

Saliba was not the only Arsenal figure to offer support to Ramsdale, as match-winner Kai Havertz jumped to his defence, telling BBC Sport: "Everyone in our team all made errors during the season, sometimes when you are a goalkeeper it can look worse. We are all in this together. We spoke about it in the dressing room at half time and turned it around."

Meanwhile, coach Mikel Arteta said to Sky Sports: "Mistakes are part of football and it's how you react to that. I'm so happy for Aaron [Ramsdale] and I'm so happy that we won the game."

The Gunners went on to seal a vital three points thanks to Havertz's goal in the 86th minute. The 2-1 win takes them top of the Premier League, leaving them a point above Liverpool and two clear of Manchester City. However, they may be knocked off of pole-position after Jurgen Klopp's team go head-to-head with Pep Guardiola's side at Anfield on Sunday.