Bacary Sagna explains how Arsenal can beat Tottenham without 'rock' Gabriel

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Evening Standard

·20 November 2025

Bacary Sagna explains how Arsenal can beat Tottenham without 'rock' Gabriel

The influential centre-back could be missing until January

Former Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna has hailed Gabriel as a “rock” - but backed the Gunners to cope without their star centre-back.

Gabriel looks set for a spell on the sidelines after injuring his thigh playing for Brazil in a friendly last week.

Arsenal are currently assessing the defender to learn the full extent of the injury, but he is expected to miss Sunday’s north London derby.

Sagna has admitted that it is a blow for the Gunners, however he believes Mikel Arteta will come up with an answer to the problem.

“Gabriel is a rock, he’s so important to the squad,” Sagna, who was speaking on behalf of Oddspedia, told Standard Sport.

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“He’s a natural leader and on set-pieces, he's terrific. He’s been one of the top central defenders in Europe for a long time now.

Mikel Arteta is so good at finding solutions

Bacary Sagna

“With William Saliba, he’s formed one of best central defensive partnerships I’ve seen for a long time.

“Mikel Arteta is so good at finding solutions, so I’m sure he’ll discover a way to get Arsenal set up well against Tottenham.

“But obviously not having Gabriel available is not good, with everything he can offer at both ends of the pitch.

“I still think they’ll have enough to win, especially at home. But the sooner Gabriel is back in the team, the better!”

Arsenal have made a brilliant start to the season and are top of the Premier League going into Sunday’s derby at Emirates Stadium.

They are also into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and have a 100 per cent record in the Champions League.

Sagna, who made nearly 300 appearances for Arsenal during his seven seasons in north London, has been impressed by Arsenal’s defence - which has conceded just five goals in all competitions.

Arsenal squad

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“Arsenal are having a great start to the season, they’ve looked very strong,” he said.

“Especially with the fixture list they were handed - Manchester United away, Liverpool away and Manchester City in the first set of matches. Whenever you play the big teams at the start of the season, you have to start well.

“I’m very confident in the quality of the team. They have been very close the last three seasons to winning the Premier League.

“You never know how your rivals are going to perform, when they sign a lot of players, like Liverpool did.

“But Arsenal are top of the league, they have a strong defence, hardly conceding any goals. This is key, if you want to be successful and win trophies. Offensively, you will always create chances because you have fantastic players like Viktor Gyokeres and Bukayo Saka.

“Last year, there were just a couple of games where they switched off, Fulham away was a good example, but this season seems to be different.”