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

The Premier League finally resumes tomorrow, with Arsenal continuing their campaign with a North London derby on Sunday afternoon.

But even if Martin Odegaard returns to training, Mikel Arteta’s side could be without several key players, which could make it a tougher game than last year.

For example, the coach did not say whether Victor Gokeres, Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz or Gabriel Martinelli will be available, but one player who is certain to be absent is Gabriel Magalhães.

The Brazilian centre-back is expected to be out for at least a few weeks, which is a big blow, but a solution could be to move another defender into another position.

Arsenal’s record against Spurs

The match between Arsenal and Spurs on Sunday afternoon will be the 212th meeting between the rivals.

The first meeting between the two sides dates back to November 1896, when the Gunners were still south of the river, and ended in a 2–1 victory for Arsenal.

Since then, there have been periods in which the Lilywhites have had the upper hand, but it has been the North London Reds who have won the rivalry with 89 wins, 55 draws and 67 defeats.

Unsurprisingly, Arteta’s side have been even more dominant in recent years, losing just two of their last 10 meetings, drawing once and winning the other seven.

What’s more, the title-chasing side are undefeated in their last six games against their arch-rivals, winning their most recent encounter 2-1 despite their form being in trouble at the time.

What made this victory even more impressive was that Son Heung-min actually scored the visitors’ first goal in the 25th minute.

However, Arsenal took the lead again after just 19 minutes with an own goal from Dominic Solanke and a fine goal from Leandro Trossard.

That said, Sunday’s game will be tough even though Arteta has always outplayed Spurs, but he may already have a solution for Gabriel’s injury.

Arteta’s solution to Gabriel’s injury

The good news for Arsenal is that there are several ways for Arteta to replace Gabriel.

For example, they could move Cristian Mosquera back into the side, play Ben White there, or give Piero Hincapie the starting role.

However, the former is right-handed, White hasn’t played at centre-back for a long time and the Ecuadorian has yet to prove himself in this team, so it might not be wise to throw him into Derby.

Therefore, although this may not be the most popular decision, Arteta needs to move Riccardo Calafioli from left-back to the Brazilian’s position.

There are several reasons for this, the first being that the Italian international, like the injured star, is left-footed. It may not seem that important at first, but it actually is.

This creates a real balance in defense and makes it easier to play from the back as you move up the left side of the pitch.

The second reason why this dynamic defender should be moved to the back two is that he already has a lot of experience playing there.

For example, during his time at Bologna he appeared in 29 games as a centre-back, but only 6 as a full-back. Additionally, during pre-season, he played there again when Gabriel was out injured in last season’s game against Fulham.

Finally, the 23-year-old “wild horse”, as the Telegraph’s Sam Dean dubbed him, has already had enough football experience this season and should be far more tactically savvy than the other options. And although he returned early from international duty, there’s a good chance he’ll be ready to play.

Ultimately, Arteta has several options to replace Gabriel on Sunday, but Calafioli, who earns £120,000 a week, should be his choice.