Arteta needs to move Arsenal’s £120,000-a-year ‘wild horse’ to fill Gabriel’s hole

The Premier League lastly resumes tomorrow, with Arsenal persevering with their marketing campaign with a North London derby on Sunday afternoon.

However even when Martin Odegaard returns to coaching, Mikel Arteta’s facet may very well be with out a number of key gamers, which may make it a more durable sport than final yr.

For instance, the coach didn’t say whether or not Victor Gokeres, Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz or Gabriel Martinelli might be accessible, however one participant who is definite to be absent is Gabriel Magalhães.

The Brazilian centre-back is anticipated to be out for at the very least a number of weeks, which is a giant blow, however an answer may very well be to maneuver one other defender into one other place.

Arsenal’s file towards Spurs

The match between Arsenal and Spurs on Sunday afternoon would be the 212th assembly between the rivals.

The primary assembly between the 2 sides dates again to November 1896, when the Gunners have been nonetheless south of the river, and led to a 2–1 victory for Arsenal.

Since then, there have been intervals during which the Lilywhites have had the higher hand, but it surely has been the North London Reds who’ve received the rivalry with 89 wins, 55 attracts and 67 defeats.

Unsurprisingly, Arteta’s facet have been much more dominant lately, shedding simply two of their final 10 conferences, drawing as soon as and successful the opposite seven.

What’s extra, the title-chasing facet are undefeated of their final six video games towards their arch-rivals, successful their most up-to-date encounter 2-1 regardless of their kind being in hassle on the time.

What made this victory much more spectacular was that Son Heung-min really scored the guests’ first aim within the twenty fifth minute.

Nonetheless, Arsenal took the lead once more after simply 19 minutes with an personal aim from Dominic Solanke and a nice aim from Leandro Trossard.

That mentioned, Sunday’s sport might be robust despite the fact that Arteta has all the time outplayed Spurs, however he could have already got an answer for Gabriel’s damage.

Arteta’s resolution to Gabriel’s damage

The excellent news for Arsenal is that there are a number of methods for Arteta to exchange Gabriel.

For instance, they may transfer Cristian Mosquera again into the facet, play Ben White there, or give Piero Hincapie the beginning position.

Nonetheless, the previous is right-handed, White hasn’t performed at centre-back for a very long time and the Ecuadorian has but to show himself on this group, so it won’t be smart to throw him into Derby.

Subsequently, though this will not be the most well-liked resolution, Arteta wants to maneuver Riccardo Calafioli from left-back to the Brazilian’s place.

There are a number of causes for this, the primary being that the Italian worldwide, just like the injured star, is left-footed. It could not appear that necessary at first, but it surely really is.

This creates an actual stability in protection and makes it simpler to play from the again as you progress up the left facet of the pitch.

The second cause why this dynamic defender must be moved to the again two is that he already has a number of expertise enjoying there.

For instance, throughout his time at Bologna he appeared in 29 video games as a centre-back, however solely 6 as a full-back. Moreover, he performed there once more throughout pre-season when Gabriel was out injured in final season’s sport towards Fulham.

Lastly, the 23-year-old “wild horse”, because the Telegraph’s Sam Dean dubbed him, has already had sufficient soccer expertise this season and must be much more tactically savvy than the opposite choices. And though he returned early from worldwide responsibility, there is a good likelihood he’ll be able to play.

Finally, Arteta has a number of choices to exchange Gabriel on Sunday, however he ought to select Calafioli, who’s on £120,000-a-week.