Gabriel blow for Arsenal as defender is ruled out ‘for weeks’

Arsenal have been dealt an injury blow ahead of the north London derby with key defender Gabriel Magalhaes ruled out “for weeks”.

The 27-year-old, an ever-present this season in a Gunners side who have conceded just five Premier League goals, suffered a thigh injury on international duty with Brazil.

He sustained the problem on familiar territory, limping off during a friendly against Senegal at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium over the weekend.

Boss Mikel Arteta has now confirmed Gabriel will not be available when Tottenham visit their fierce rivals later this weekend, or for the foreseeable future.

“Gabriel, unfortunately, picked up an injury with the Brazilian national team and he’s going to be out for weeks,” said Arteta.

“We need to have another scan – I think it’s next Wednesday – and we’ll have the timeline probably much more clear than we have at the moment.”

Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera are both in contention to deputise for Gabriel against Spurs.

“It’s clearly a blow because he’s our leader in our backline and to me it’s never a positive thing,” added Arteta.

“The good thing is that we have very good options and people have to stand up now and do the job.”

Viktor Gyokores, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and captain Martin Odegaard have all been on the injured list lately, but Arteta hopes to have positive news about at least a couple of them ahead of Sunday.

“We put a lot of energy during the international break with all the medical staff to try to bring them as quickly as possible,” added the Spaniard.

“So tomorrow we have another training session, to see how some of them are feeling, whether it’s a bit too close to bring him in this game or we feel that they can have a contribution in the game. Tomorrow we’ll have more clarity.”

Winger Bukayo Saka is understood to be in talks over a new contract, with his current deal due to expire in 2027.

“What I’m very aware of is that he wants to continue with us, that he’s very happy that he’s in the place that he wants to continue to be and achieve everything that we want to achieve  together,” said Arteta.

“When that happens and how it happens, I’ll leave that to (sporting director) Andrea (Berta) and the club to figure out.”