Gabriel Magalhaes played every Arsenal league game last season. However, out of nowhere, the Brazilian didn’t feature in Arsenal’s season opener, which was a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest, sitting out in what was interpreted as a tactical switch by Arteta, who has been tipped to embrace squad rotation to inject unpredictability to his team.
Over the past few days, there’s been speculation about Gabriel’s future at the Emirates. Some already feel he has lost their favour, which isn’t helped by the fact that there are reports that Saudi Arabian clubs and Real Madrid want him.
Anyway, it is unlikely that he or any defender will leave after Jurrien Timber’s ACL injury. Arsenal can’t afford to lose another defender. Arteta was “indirectly” quizzed about Gabriel’s future in his press conference for the Palace game, to which he admitted, “There are not any plans on doing anything like that.”
With that, I bet Gabriel will be starting against Crystal Palace on Monday night, and in that game, he’ll show what he’s all about.
A Gabriel-Saliba defensive partnership proved to be rock-solid last season. I doubt Arteta will be overlooking it this season; why should he?
The 2023–24 season will be a long one for the Gunners, a long one in the sense that Arteta will no doubt embrace squad rotation, and if players are linked with exits every time they have been rested, how many exit speculations will we deal with?
Darren N
JustArsenal Show – NEO discusses Arteta’s tactical set up for Crystal Palace v Arsenal
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