Arsenal have suffered a significant setback ahead of Sunday’s North London derby after manager Mikel Arteta confirmed that defender Gabriel Magalhaes will be sidelined for “weeks” due to a thigh injury sustained on international duty.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Brazil centre-back, who has been ever-present in a Premier League defence that has conceded just five goals in 11 matches, picked up the injury during Brazil’s 2-0 friendly win over Senegal at the Emirates Stadium last weekend.
“Gabi unfortunately picked up an injury with the Brazilian national team and he’s going to be out for weeks,” Arteta said on Friday.
“We need to have another scan next Wednesday, and we’ll have the timeline probably much clearer than we have at the moment.
“It’s clearly a blow because he’s our leader in our back line and, to me, it’s never a positive thing. The good thing is that we have very good options and people have to stand up now and do the job.”
Gabriel has formed a dominant central defensive pairing with William Saliba this season, while also posing an aerial threat from set-pieces. Arteta said Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera are in contention to fill the gap but stressed that the Brazilian’s qualities are difficult to replicate.
“Every player brings specific qualities and Gabi’s is his leadership, his presence and that love that he has to defend, and to transmit, as well, his body language to other players,” he said.
“We have to do it and we have to spread that. People will step up, we’ve done it in the past, many, many times, unfortunately. We played last year, the biggest and most prominent part of the season without him as well, and the team was able to cope with that.”
Left-back Riccardo Calafiori, another key figure in Arsenal’s defensive line, missed Italy’s recent fixtures due to fitness concerns.
“He’s been carrying a few things and we had to bring him back,” Arteta said. “He hasn’t trained yet. Tomorrow we have another training session and we’ll see how he is.”
Arsenal remain without longer-term absentees Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, and Viktor Gyokeres, none of whom featured during the international break.
“Tomorrow we have another training session, see how some of them are feeling, whether it’s a bit too close for this game, or we feel that they can make a contribution,” Arteta added.
“So tomorrow we have more clarity.”
Arsenal go into the derby four points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, despite a 2-2 draw at Sunderland earlier this month that ended their run of eight straight wins without conceding a goal. The Gunners have been dominant at home against Tottenham, losing just once in the league at the Emirates since 1993.
However, Spurs arrive with the best away record in the league this season — four wins and a draw from five matches — setting up a high-stakes encounter in North London.
