Gabriel celebrates yet another goal from a corner against West Ham.
Gabriel celebrates yet another goal from a corner against West Ham.
Gabriel is so used to finding the net that he has come up with his own celebration.
Well, sort of. The Brazilian defender was criticised last week for appearing to mimic the pose of Sporting Lisbon’s prolific centre-forward Viktor Gyokeres when scoring in the Champions League.
But he brought out the same hands-over-face stance, based on comic book character Bane, when kick-starting Arsenal's latest five-star performance against West Ham. “We make fun of it and he has fun with it as well,” Jorginho said of the celebration. “I think it's great stuff what’s happening.”
The sight of Gabriel racing away from a crowd of bodies with a beaming smile has become a familiar one. No player has scored more goals from non-penalty set pieces than the centre-back's 17 since he arrived in the league four years ago.
Jorginho outlines Arsenal's surprise advantage over Liverpool in title race - 'It can help'
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Three convincing wins in eight days have brought Arsenal back to life and the key – beyond captain Martin Odegaard returning from injury – has been doubling down on their greatest strength. And while Gabriel gets much of the credit, it is really a team effort. Much of it stems from the scheming of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover.
Almost all of Arsenal’s corner kicks are inswingers landing near the six-yard box. But opponents remain bamboozled when it comes to tracking the runners. Packing the team with towering figures such as 6ft 3in Gabriel and 6ft 4in William Saliba helps.
Yet Jover’s inventive playbook, borrowed from American football and basketball, has made every Arsenal set-piece a compelling watch. Saturday’s successful trick was for half a dozen players to gather beyond the far post before rushing towards the goal – plotting specific routes as if they were wide receivers attempting to catch the quarterback’s delivery.
Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring from the penalty spot against West Ham.
It allowed Gabriel to easily evade Michail Antonio on his way to heading in Bukayo Saka's cross. And despite a brief doze where they conceded twice when four goals clear, Arsenal never looked back.
Gabriel also won Arsenal’s second penalty, making it 5-2 at the end of a bizarre opening half, when attacking a corner – although he did receive a punch to the head for his efforts.
Arteta, however, insisted his removal at half-time was to protect another niggle he has been dealing with rather than fears of concussion and he is expected to be fit for Manchester United on Wednesday. Jorginho teased that there is a secret to Gabriel’s set-piece success but, predictably, added: “I'm not gonna tell you.
“He's really good and I think it requires a lot of work from the whole team. Everyone does their job and then he's a real threat and he's been so helpful to us.”
Jorginho outlines Arsenal's surprise advantage in title race - 'It can help'
Jorginho also reckoned this was close to the perfect away performance, adding: “We shouldn't have conceded the way we did but we take a lot of positive stuff from here.”
Having flirted with coming off the rails before the international break, a switch has been flicked on.
“I hope so but I think so, yes,” the Italian midfielder said when asked if it’s safe to describe Arsenal as back to their best. “We are in a good momentum now. We need to carry on going and focus on the next one. I think having players back from injury, having the whole squad available, has made a huge difference and we fixed something that wasn’t working. Now it is.”
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