Ian Wright insists Gabriel Magalhaes will be a “massive miss” when Arsenal face Real Madrid in the Champions League next Tuesday.
Gabriel was forced off in the first half of their 2-1 win over Fulham on Tuesday night with a hamstring injury that will almost certainly rule him out of the match against Real Madrid in a week’s time.
Jakub Kiwior came into the centre of defence alongside William Saliba for the remainder of the match against Fulham in which goals from Mikel Merino and the returning Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal all three points.
When asked about Gabriel’s injury after the match, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said: “Worried because he never wants to come off and he had to.
“He’s not very sure how big it is and what it is exactly but he felt he that he could not continue.”
When asked if Gabriel will be fit to face Real Madrid in the Champions League next week, Arteta replied: “Depends, there’s a week there but I will say with the way he is normally… difficult.”
Reacting to Gabriel’s injury, Arsenal legend Wright told Premier League Productions: “It’s a massive miss.
“It’s just as big in respects of what Saka does for us going forward, then Gabriel going the other way, set-pieces, leadership, warrior that we need.
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“I think whatever you say, the drop-off from Gabriel, I don’t know how fit Calafiori is at the moment, but when you’re looking at someone going that quick and pulling up like that, that’s not two weeks, that a month, that’s six weeks, you can see it there, he knows himself.
“The thing is, I know we’re jumping ahead and speaking about Real Madrid because it is a massive game, it is the big game of the season for us.
“Without Gabi Magalhaes in that game you’re looking at Kiwior even today [against Fulham], there’s a couple of positional moves that you just cannot afford to do when you play against Real Madrid.
“They are looking for any chink in the armour to exploit, so you need people who are absolutely bang on it, to be able to keep Real Madrid to no goals at home. If Gabi Magalhaes was there I would feel more confident about that.”
With Arsenal hosting Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, Wright insists it’s crucial that the Gunners take a lead into the second leg at the Bernabeu.
Wright added: “Missing Gabriel now, we need all the best players we can get out there for that particular game because we know what the Champions League means to Real Madrid and how much they want to win that, and how much good fortune they get in that tournament. We’re going to need everything we can get,’ Wright said.
“We probably need to go to Real Madrid with something. You can’t look at a Real Madrid side with the players they’ve got and feel like they’re not going to at least get a goal here, so you have to go to the Bernabeu with something.”