When the final whistle blew against Everton, William Saliba reached ironman status as he achieved something no other Arsenal player has ever done before.
As well as being a colossus at the back throughout the campaign, our French defender played every second of our 38 games, becoming our first outfield player to complete the feat during the Premier League era.
In fact, only two outfield players across the division remained on the field for the entirety of the 2023/24 season, with the other being Wolves defender Max Kilman. They join an exclusive club of 76 outfielders who also played every minute of a campaign since the competition began in 1992.
The last Gunner to have done so was a few seasons before, when Lee Dixon played all 42 First Divison games in 1989/90. The closest a player has come since was William’s centre-back partner Gabriel, who sat out just nine minutes last season:
| Season | Player | Minutes missed |
| 2023/24 | William Saliba | 0 |
| 2022/23 | Gabriel | 9 |
| 1995/96 | Paul Merson | 39 |
| 1995/96 | Lee Dixon | 40 |
| 1996/97 | Nigel Winterburn | 42 |
| 2011/12 | Robin van Persie | 86 |
| 2007/08 | Gael Clichy | 89 |
| 2012/13 | Santi Cazorla | 112 |
| 2017/18 | Granit Xhaka | 154 |
| 2023/24 | Declan Rice | 190 |
Declan Rice rounds off the top 10, having missed only 190 minutes of his debut campaign. However, he did play a part in all 38 matches, and is the 16th Arsenal player to have done that in the Premier League.
When you take into account all competitions, William's efforts become even more impressive. He made 50 appearances across our 52 games, only sitting out our two League Cup ties and the last 28 minutes of our Champions League dead rubber at PSV Eindhoven.
That means he played 4,502 out of 4,680 minutes, the highest total recorded by an outfielder in our colours since Per Mertesacker's 4,725 in 2013/14.
Another statistical quirk saw his teammate David Raya scoop the Golden Glove for being the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets, William’s ever-present campaign actually saw him record more shutouts than his shot-stopper, playing his part in all 18, while David's late arrival saw him play in 16 of those.
Our record haul of 28 wins also took Saliba’s tally to 49 victories from his first 65 league appearances for the club, handing him a win percentage of 75% - the highest in the competition:
| Player | Wins |
| William Saliba | 49 |
| Edu | 46 |
| Nacho Monreal | 46 |
| Jens Lehmann | 45 |
| Sol Campbell | 44 |
| Kolo Toure | 44 |
| Lauren | 44 |
| Aaron Ramsdale | 44 |
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