Which Arsenal games Gabriel will miss through injury, as expert names new Saliba partner | OneFootball

With new light shed on the thigh injury suffered by Gabriel Magalhaes, TEAMtalk has taken a look at which Arsenal games the centre-back will miss, while a Gunners expert has named the ‘obvious’ choice to partner William Saliba in the Brazilian’s absence.

Gabriel has arguably been Arsenal’s best player this season and is a menace to opposing sides at both ends of the pitch.

He is the vocal leader in Arsenal’s defence that yet again, is the meanest in the Premier League. In the final third, the Brazilian is frequently the target for the Gunners’ ultra-effective set pieces, many of which are designed specifically with Gabriel in mind.

However, Arsenal are set for a spell without Gabriel anchoring their backline after the defender sustained a thigh injury while playing for Brazil. That issue was picked up in Brazil’s 2-0 friendly victory over Senegal which coincedentally, was played at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium.

According to the latest from The Athletic, Gabriel will undergo further testing but the expectation is he’ll miss ‘one to two months.’

That is grim news for the Gunners whose fixture list is heavily populated over the coming weeks and months.

Should Arsenal get lucky and Gabriel misses just one month, he would still be absent for critical Premier League clashes with Tottenham and Chelsea, both of which take place in November. A juicy tie with Bayern Munich in the Champions League would also be missed.

If Gabriel’s injury rules him out for the full two months, Arsenal could be without their talismanic centre-back for as many as SIXTEEN matches, including the visit of Liverpool to the Emirates in the Premier League.

Arsenal have 14 matches scheduled within the next two months. Progression in the quarter-finals of the League Cup would place the first leg of a semi-final clash inside the two-month mark, and there’s an FA Cup third round tie to slot in early January too.

Arsenal’s fixture list over the next two months is as follows:

Tottenham (home), November 23

Bayern Munich (home – Champions League), November 26

Chelsea (away), November 30

Brentford (home), December 3

Aston Villa (away), December 6

Club Brugge (away – Champions League), December 10

Wolves (home), December 13

Everton (away), December 20

Crystal Palace (home – League Cup quarter-final), December 23

Brighton (home), December 27

Aston Villa (home), December 30

Bournemouth (away), January 3

Liverpool (home), January 8

TBD (FA Cup Third Round), weekend of January 10/11

TBD (League Cup semi-final first leg), week commencing January 12

Nottingham Forest (away), January 17

‘Obvious’ choice to fill in for Gabriel

Thankfully for Mikel Arteta, he does not lack for viable options to fill in while Gabriel recovers.

Many might expect Riccardo Calafiori – who is left-footed like Gabriel – to shift over from left-back to left centre-back, with Myles Lewis-Skelly potentially stepping in at left-back.

Another alternative is plugging summer signing Cristhian Mosquera in alongside Saliba following his impressive early showings. However, that would mean either Saliba or Mosquera, both right-footers, would have to play on the left side of the pairing.

As such, one of The Athletic’s Arsenal experts, James McNicholas, claimed the likeliest outcome is Piero Hincapie (left-footed) gets the nod to partner Saliba.

‘One solution could be to draft in Cristhian Mosquera. The Spain Under-21 international has already deputised brilliantly for William Saliba this season’ wrote McNicholas.

‘Mosquera, 21, is naturally right-sided, though. To maintain the balance of one right-footed centre-half and one left-footer, Arteta could turn to either Riccardo Calafiori or Piero Hincapie.

‘Given Calafiori’s excellent form at left-back, moving him to the middle may be an unnecessary complication, so on-loan Ecuador international Hincapie could be the obvious solution.

‘Arsenal strongly believe that in Hincapie and Mosquera, they have the depth to cope with Gabriel’s absence.’

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