Gabriel will bring up a personal milestone if he features this weekend against West Ham United – it will be the Brazilian’s 150th appearance for us.
The centre-back has been the model of consistency since arriving from Lille in 2020, forming a solid partnership with William Saliba over the past couple of years, and chipping in with 14 goals in all competitions as well.
He has been in excellent form this season too, and was voted Arsenal.com Player of the Month for January – the fourth time he has taken the award.
Asked how his influence has grown on and off the pitch over the past few years, Mikel Arteta said: “A lot of things have happened to him. His role in the team has grown. His personal life is also very different to the one he had before with his family and his language.
“He also changed a lot of things in his life and improved his mentality. He can decide what he wants to be and I think he made the right call to take the direction he took.”
In the current squad, only Bukayo Saka has started more games for us than big Gabi – who has started 142 and came on in the other seven.
He’s scored three times this season, and no defender has netted as many goals as him in the Premier League since he made his debut, away to Fulham in September 2020 - find out more about his incredible stats.
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