Arsenal centre-back William Saliba could write a new page of Gunners history when Mikel Arteta's men host Wolverhampton Wanderers in Saturday's Premier League opener at the Emirates.
After being sent out on loan three times to Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille, Gooners feared that Saliba could leave the club without making a single competitive appearance for the first team.
However, Saliba decided to stay in North London and try to make a name for himself under Mikel Arteta, who has since overseen his development into one of the world's leading centre-backs.
Together with defensive partner Gabriel Magalhaes, Saliba played a critical role in David Raya's Golden Glove win last season, where he was just one of two outfield players to play every minute of the Premier League campaign alongside Max Kilman.
Fresh from helping France reach the Euro 2024 semi-finals, Saliba scored in last weekend's 2-0 win over Lyon in the Emirates Cup, and the 23-year-old is nailed-on to start in Saturday's clash with Gary O'Neil's side.
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Saliba out to set new 50-win Arsenal record
The former Saint-Etienne starlet already has 49 wins to show from 65 Premier League matches, and should the Gunners prevail on Saturday, he would have hit 50 in record time for Arsenal.
A 50th win from 66 matches would break the current Gunners record held by former long-serving left-back Nacho Monreal, who hit a half-century of victories in 70 appearances for the North London giants.
Kolo Toure, Edu, Sol Campbell and Gilberto Silva - four members of the 2003-04 Invincibles - also took under 75 games to hit 50 triumphs, while current boss Arteta managed the feat in 77 appearances, putting him joint-seventh on Arsenal's list.
However, a couple of Arsenal players have taken under 65 games to reach 50 victories in the Premier League for any team, with former Manchester City pair Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko doing so in 62 and 63 matches respectively.
The outright record is jointly held by current Citizens star Phil Foden and ex-City centre-back Aymeric Laporte, whose 50-win milestones arrived in their 59th games, while Didier Drogba won 50 of his first 60 top-flight contests at Chelsea.
Arsenal bidding to extend record scoring streak in Wolves clash
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As well as Saliba chasing individual history, Arsenal will endeavour to extend a club-best scoring record against Wolves, whom they have astoundingly not drawn a blank against since 1979.
The Gunners have scored in each of their last 33 competitive games against the West Midlands side, their all-time best streak against a single opponent, which is also Wolves' worst run without a clean sheet versus a particular team.
Each of the last six Premier League meetings between Arsenal and Wolves has seen the Gunners emerge victorious, with the visitors' last success in this fixture coming back in the 2020-21 campaign, when David Luiz and Bernd Leno were sent off at Molineux.
Saturday's visitors to the Emirates are also out to avoid a slice of unwanted history, as they have lost their last three opening Premier League fixtures and have never suffered four losses on the spin on the opening weekend.
Ben Knapton
