Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that centre-back Gabriel will be sidelined for “a few weeks” after sustaining an injury while playing for Brazil.
The 27-year-old was sent off in Brazil’s win over Senegal during the international break, with manager Arteta describing Gabriel’s absence as a “heartache”, with Gabriel set to miss Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham, broadcast live on Sky Sports.
The match against Spurs is the first of three important games for Arsenal, who host German champions Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday before traveling to Chelsea on November 30 (live on Sky Sports).
Sunday, November 23rd, 4pm
4:30pm kickoff
“Gabi unfortunately picked up an injury with the national team and will be out for a few weeks,” Arteta said.
“We need another scan next Wednesday. We’ll have a much clearer timeline than we have at the moment.”
Gabirel has been an ever-present in Arsenal’s side, who have conceded just five goals in the Premier League this season.
Piero Hincapie and Cristian Mosquera are both in contention to replace the Brazilian against Spurs.
“It’s obviously a blow,” Arteta added. “He is the leader of our rearguard.
“Missing him is never a positive thing. The good thing is we have some very good options. They need to step up now.”
Arsenal have had Victor Gokore, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and captain Martin Odegaard on the injured list in recent weeks, but Arteta is hoping to get positive news on at least two of them by Sunday.
“We put a lot of energy into working with all the medical staff during the international break and tried to bring them in as soon as possible,” the Spaniard added.
“So we’ll have another training session tomorrow to see how they feel, whether it’s a little too close to bring him in for this game or if they feel he can contribute in the game. We’ll have more clarity tomorrow.”
On how confident he is that some of the injured players will be back, he added: “I’m more optimistic (than I was at Sunderland) that they’ll be back. It’s the final stages now. There’s contact around them and they’re being forced to do things they’re not doing.”
“I think they’ll be with us soon. But I don’t know if Sunday is too early.”
Who will replace Gabriel at center back?
Sam Blitz of Sky Sports:
It’s been a big week for Arsenal, but Gabriel’s injury has put that in jeopardy.
Tottenham home game – the biggest game on Arsenal’s fixture calendar. They will host Bayern Munich and perhaps the best striker in the world, Harry Kane. And then there’s Chelsea away, who Arteta boasted of as having “by far the best attack in the league” earlier this year. All within 7 days.
The defender is set to be out for several weeks and Arteta will have to find a way to avoid being without one of the league’s best defenders at such a crucial time.
Arsenal’s performance in the Premier League has improved significantly with Gabriel starting the game.
One of his possible replacements was Piero Hincapie, who was signed on deadline day as cover for Gabriel in the left centre-back role.
However, he is yet to start a Premier League game for the club, appearing at left-back in four of Arsenal’s five games. His only start came in the Carabao Cup win over Brighton, a game in which Arsenal conceded six shots on target, but it was a very different game to Arsenal.
Another option is Cristian Mosquera, who could line up alongside William Saliba. However, the 21-year-old has not started in the Premier League since the win against Newcastle. In this game, he made a mistake in giving the Magpies the lead and was caught at half-time.
The only game in which he started alongside Saliba was against Port Vale in League One. Spurs playing at home on Sunday is a completely different proposition.
Another option is to have Riccardo Calafioli play centre-back and bring in Hincapie or Miles Lewis-Skelly as an option at left-back. However, Arteta has said in the past that he does not want to change two positions just because one player is injured.
Kolo Muani injury boosts Tottenham heading into north London derby
Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Thomas Frank has been given a major reinforcement for Sunday’s game against Arsenal, with forward Randal Kolo Muani available.
The player, on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, suffered a jaw injury in Spurs’ 2-2 draw with Manchester United on November 8 and subsequently missed international duty with France.
Although he has joined Tottenham’s long-term injury list, Frank has provided positive updates on a number of players, with Kolo Muani unexpectedly able to play after donning a protective mask for training this week.
“Pape (Saar) trained today and is ready and available. Lucas (Bergvall) trained today and is available. Kolo Muani, yes, he trained today and is available. Of course he has the mask he needs to play,” Frank revealed.
Defenders Ben Davies and Kota Takai also returned to training this week, while centre-back Radu Dragusin took part in a friendly behind closed doors earlier this month to speed up his recovery after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury in January.
Archie Gray is also back and Mohamed Kudus, who was absent from international duty with Ghana, has also returned to training to give Frank a further boost.
James Maddison, Yves Bissouma and Dejan Kulusevski remain sidelined, while Dominic Solanke has not played since August 23 and underwent minor ankle surgery last month.
Frank added: “Dom isn’t ready yet. We’re very aware that when we put him out there we want to be as sure as possible that we don’t have any setbacks in the future. We’re confident he’ll be ready soon.”
