Martin Keown believes there will be undue pressure on new signing William Saliba to solve Arsenal's defensive frailties.

A celebrated defender during his own playing career, Keown won three Premier League titles with the Gunners.

Recently however, there have been plenty of question marks over the Arsenal backline, which has shipped on average over 40 more goals across the past three Premier League seasons than their traditional top-six rivals.

Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery and now Mikel Arteta have been tasked with addressing the issue and the latter certainly is not spoilt for choice when all of his defenders are fit.

"Arteta might not feel he can shift any of those defenders this summer but the board will probably tell him he has to get rid of players in that position if he wants to sign a new centre-back."

With former head of football Raul Sanllehi leaving the club on Saturday, the footballing decisions at the Emirates Stadium will now rest with Arteta and technical director Edu.

A new defender may yet arrive to join fellow new recruit Willian, who joined on a free transfer from Chelsea on Friday, while a new deal for captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is expected to be announced by the end of the week.