Mikel Arteta has raised doubts over whether Gabriel Magalhaes will be able to play against Crystal Palace on Sunday, following the defender’s early midweek substitution.
Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes scored and assisted goals against Atletico Madrid in midweek, as well as helping the Gunners to another Champions League clean sheet. But it wasn’t all good news for the centre-back, as he was forced off in the 72nd minute of the game with an injury.
Though there’s been no suggestion the problem is anything too serious, Mikel Arteta did suggest in his press conference on Friday that there’s a possibility it could rule Gabriel out of the Crystal Palace match this weekend.
“Big Gabi had to leave the pitch with an issue and he hasn’t been able to train yet,” Arteta confirmed. “So let’s see how he evolves in the next 24 hours to see whether he’s available or not for the weekend.”
Cristhian Mosquera would be the most likely to fill in if Gabriel is unavailable, with Piero Hincapie having only just returned to fitness, though Riccardo Calafiori could also potentially play at centre-back if Myles Lewis-Skelly started on the left.
Hincapie was presumably signed with the intention of giving Gabriel breaks from time to time, but the Ecuador centre-back has only been fit to make the squad three times so far, and he hasn’t played a minute since his injury.
It would be a surprise to see him thrown straight into the starting lineup.
Arsenal have four other injured players in Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus, and Kai Havertz, and Arteta confirmed that none of the four are close to returning just yet.
“They are progressing really well,” Arteta began. “They are starting to do certain activities. They are all super willing to be available as quickly as possible, but at the moment, none of them are yet in contention in the next week or so.”