‘Gabriel Magalhaes’ out for the season after Arsenal blow ahead of Real Madrid’
Arsenal will be forced to play Real Madrid without Gabriel Magalhaes as his season is expected to be over, according to Tim Sherwood.
Whilst the Premier League title is Liverpool’s to lose, Arsenal will be holding out hope to make one of football’s most improbable comebacks a reality.
Whilst winning a first league title since 2004 remains a pipe-dream, the Gunners still have a good chance of winning Europe’s most esteemed club competition, the Champions League.
Arsenal have relied on defensive solidity to power them to the quarter-finals, and a match-up with the competition’s most successful side ever, Real Madrid.
However, just one week ahead of their meeting with the Spanish giants, the North London side have received a devastating blow.
Gabriel Magalhaes ‘season is over’ after hamstring injury vs Fulham
With Arsenal in control of the match, Fulham nicked the ball back and attempted to begin a counter-attack.
Adama Traore burst past the Brazilian centre-back, but Gabriel dealt with the danger well, winning the ball back off the Spaniard.
However, the former Lille centre-back went down, clutching the back of his leg, clearly injured.
Arsenal chose to continue their attack, in hopes of breaking down Fulham’s compact back-line, before losing the ball, once again giving the Whites an opportunity to counter-attack.
Once the ball had gone out of play, Al-Nassr transfer target Gabriel was attended to by medical staff, before hobbling off.
Speaking on Sky Sport, former Tottenham manager, Sherwood, was plain in his assessment of the injury, saying: “Yeah he’s gotta come off, he wont be the first to have popped a hamstring tryna chase Adama Traore.
“That’s what happened in the middle of the pitch and it looks like he just ripped it.
“That is his season over.
“If that’s a bad hamstring, that is him finished.
“He’s walking off, but erm, he’s shaking his head, it doesn’t look good, [Jakub] Kiwior has now come on for him.”
Bukaya Saka returns to fitness in time for Arsenal to face Real Madrid
Football Insider Verdict
Whilst Gabriel’s injury is a devastating one for Arsenal ahead of their match-up against Real Madrid, the return of Bukayo Saka to the Gunners’ matchday squad will give them a much needed boost.
The England international has been out for over three months now, having suffered his own hamstring injury in a 5-1 win over Crystal Palace in December.
Ethan Nwaneri has stepped up in place of the Arsenal star, performing excellently on the right-wing.
However, Saka remains a different proposition for defenders to deal with, especially given left-back remains somewhat of a problem position for Real Madrid.
Despite usually adopting a pragmatic approach to big games, Mikel Arteta may instead look to catch the Spanish champions out and use Nwaneri in midfield to add more firepower to his side, choosing to play into the mantra of offence being the best form of defence, without his star centre-back.