Arsenal fans will have their fingers and toes crossed that Gabriel Magalhaes will be fit to play against Newcastle United on Sunday. The defender was forced off after 85 minutes in Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Chelsea after requiring treatment on three occasions.
Gabriel has been colossal for Mikel Arteta’s side this season, starting all 34 of their Premier League games and forming a solid partnership with William Saliba. However, in Saliba’s absence, Gabriel and Arsenal have struggled to maintain their superb defensive record – failing to keep a clean sheet in their last seven games.
The Gunners travel to third-placed Newcastle in the toughest fixture of their remaining four. Between now and then, Arteta will be hoping to get Gabriel back to full fitness.
“He wasn’t comfortable,” Arteta explained. “He tried for 10-15 minutes, he could not carry on which is strange for Gabi so a big concern about that because normally he’s not one that wants to leave the pitch.”
Should the 25 year-old be unavailable, Arsenal will be without two of their best defenders for the weekend. Saliba has missed the last seven games after injuring himself against Sporting CP in the Europa League.
“He’s not going to be involved tomorrow,” Arteta said of Saliba ahead of Chelsea.. “We will have to wait until the next game to see where we are.” The Spaniard provided a worrying update on his recovery after the win on Tuesday, insisting he doesn’t know whether he will be available for Sunday’s game.
The only other injury concerns for the north Londoners are Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny. Tomiyasu is facing missing out on the start of next season while Elneny will miss the remainder of the current campaign following surgery on his knee.
