Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup after losing 2-1 to Southampton, but that’s not the only bad news.
The Gunners were nowhere near their usual level, and their terrible record at the St Mary’s continued on Saturday night.
The defeat ends Arsenal’s treble hopes, just two weeks after their quadruple dreams were crushed.
To make things worse, Gabriel Magalhaes suffered an injury, and he did not look comfortable while sitting on the bench.
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Gabriel Magalhaes spotted icing his knee after injury during Southampton vs Arsenal
Gabriel withdrew from the Brazil squad during the international break due to a knee issue.
The Brazilian had nearly two whole weeks to recover, and Arsenal’s medical staff cleared him to start against Southampton on Saturday.
Like many of his teammates, Gabriel wasn’t at his best against Southampton and even made one big mistake that could’ve cost his side a goal.
However, the most concerning moment came in the second half, when he went down holding his knee and had to be replaced immediately.
William Saliba came on in place of his centre-back partner, but he couldn’t help Arsenal win the game.
On the bench, BBC Sport reported on their live blog that Gabriel had his leg stretched the whole time and even had ice on his knee.
“We are seeing Gabriel sitting on the subs chairs, with his leg stretched out resting on another seat, with an ice pack on the knee,” they wrote.
That is extremely concerning if you are an Arsenal fan, as Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Piero Hincapie and Eberechi Eze, among others, are currently injured as well.
It remains to be seen what the official diagnosis will be, but if Gabriel’s injury is serious, the Gunners could be in big trouble going into the business end of the season.
Crashing out of both cup competitions in back-to-back games would’ve definitely done some damage, but to lose your best defender could prove to be a massive blow.
We really hope it’s nothing serious for Gabriel and he can start against Sporting midweek.
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