New signings Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus both made their Arsenal debuts after joining from Manchester City in the summer.
But it was Saliba, a £27m addition from Saint-Etienne in 2019, who made the biggest impression.
Until the outing against Crystal Palace, the 21-year-old had never played a single minute for the Gunners, instead spending the last three seasons on loan back in his native France.
Still, you wouldn’t have known it from his mature performance against Palace, where he really looked like a new signing.
Playing at centre-back alongside Gabriel Magalhães, he was incredibly composed whenever Palace posed a threat – finishing the game with 100% tackle completion, 100% aerial success, 94% pass accuracy, seven ball recoveries and six clearances.
He didn’t make a single mistake either, but produced a perfectly clean tackle to prevent Wilfried Zaha inside the penalty area in the second half.
And his huge performance thrilled Arsenal fans on his social media:
William Saliba is so, so special. Man of the Match to mark his Arsenal debut. We are so lucky to have him.
— Patrick Timmons (@PatrickTimmons1) 5 August 2022
⭐️ Player of the match, @Arsenalis William Saliba
62 touches
46/49 passes completed
7 clearances
7x possession won
PL debut – Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year while on loan at Marseille last season pic.twitter.com/WppxYWDuiv— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) 5 August 2022
William Saliba is honestly like a £60m new signing… absolute rolls royce
— Bhavs (@bhavss14) 5 August 2022
William Saliba is truly one of the most outrageous talents I have ever seen.
21 years old.
— Connor Humm (@TikiTakaConnor) 5 August 2022
Mikel Arteta hailed Saliba’s performance as “phenomenal” in helping Arsenal keep a clean sheet, but Gary Neville went a step further by comparing him to his former Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand.

“We see a lot of players get stuck between the first team and the reserves and they don’t get football,” Neville continued Sky Sports after the match.
“Saliba has got football inside him and I was hugely impressed with him.
“It reminded me of a young Rio Ferdinand. He will actually get stronger and his body will become more coordinated. He is such a young centre-back still at the age of 21.
“Crystal Palace away, it’s a tough away game in the Premier League because they throw everything at you. The forwards at Palace challenge you one on one, they run at you all the time and they never give you a moment’s peace.
“This is a big night for Saliba, who is debuting with such a strong performance.”
Next up for Saliba and Arsenal is the first home game of the season against Leicester at the Emirates on Saturday 13 August.