Former Arsenal captain challenges William Saliba to step up his performance as Gabriel outshines him

Saliba is currently ranked at no.2 in FourFourTwo's list of the best centre-backs in the world, a position that Gallas disagrees with. Gallas does not even consider Saliba to be among the top three centre-backs in England at the moment, let alone the best one at the Emirates Stadium.

Gallas believes that in fact Gabriel currently has the edge over his teammate, while Liverpool's imposing centre-back duo have left the former Arsenal and Chelsea defender most impressed of all.

What William Saliba needs to do to rank himself among Premier League's best

Speaking to OLBG, Gallas said: "For me, [my favourite players] will always be the defenders, because I'm a supporter of defenders; I’m loyal to my fellow defenders.

"There are three players that come to mind right now if I had to tell you who I think is the best in the Premier League. I will say [Ibrahima] Konate, from Liverpool, because he's been a monster from the beginning of the season, and [Virgil] van Dijk, who is playing next to him.

"For Arsenal, you’ve got Gabriel. What Gabriel’s doing makes a difference. He scores goals. At the moment, he's always the guy who helps his team to win games on free kicks, corners. He's always around and he’s a big threat from set pieces. He scored again against West Ham.

"Saliba, I like him, but at the moment, his performance is not like last season, and Gabriel is performing better than him, whereas last season, Saliba was more consistent than Gabriel.

Get FourFourTwo Newsletter

The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

"The difference is the goals. I would love Saliba to get more goals – I set him that challenge at the beginning of the season to put himself in the frame as one of the best CBs in the world.

"When you score goals as a defender, important goals, the fans will always remember you."

Gallas went on: "That's why me and John Terry, when we were at Chelsea, we were always competing about who is going to score more goals in the season. It was a good challenge, but unfortunately, he always beat me!"

French international Gallas represented Chelsea from 2001-2006 before leaving for Arsenal, where he spent four years before joining Tottenham.