Arsenal have suffered another injury gut punch, as Gabriel Magalhaes has been ruled out for the season.
Gabriel went down clutching his hamstring against Fulham on Tuesday and was subsequently substituted for Jakub Kiwior.
The Brazilian will now undergo surgery as part of his rehabilitation and can be expected to return at some point in pre-season.
Arsenal fans were losing their minds when the defender was taken off against the Cottagers, and the mood music is similarly bleak after the news broke that he won’t play again this campaign.
Arsenal fans are devastated about Gabriel’s injury
Arsenal’s record without Gabriel isn’t good, and thus, his setback could be potentially detrimental to the Gunners’ season.
Mikel Arteta’s side take on Real Madrid at the Emirates next week, and they’ll have to rely on Kiwior or someone else to deal with the elusive Kylian Mbappe.
The Arsenal faithful took to X to express their frustrations over the team’s lack of luck regarding fitness this season, amid the Gabriel news.
One fan wrote: “Gabriel out for the rest of the season. We have had zero luck with losing big players this season to injuries.”
Another added: “Our luck this season is insane. All our best players have had injuries and missed important games.”
One supporter posited: “No Gabriel until next season. Killer blow. Assuming Ben White and [Jurrien] Timber will be fit for next week, I would think Arteta will go with White and Saliba.”
Meanwhile, another questioned the club’s medical department, writing: “Three hamstring surgeries in one season is UNHEARD of. We need to take a look at our methods.”
One fan provided an outside alternative replacement for Gabriel, claiming that Hale End star Will Sweet could now be involved in the first team: “Very bad news about Gabriel, who is out for the rest of the season. Will Sweet could potentially now be involved in more first-team training sessions given that he is a left sided centre-back.”
Arsenal aren’t at fault for injury pile-up
While frustrations are turning towards the club for the injury pile-up, ultimately such significant fitness issues are merely a result of bad luck.
Across the Premier League, teams are being decimated by injury, and have done throughout the season.
Instead of blame being attributed to the club, the fault lies with the footballing authorities who enforce such a congested fixture schedule year-on-year.
Arsenal play an intense style of football, but teams with more intense approaches to the game have had fewer injury issues, pointing to this not really being a reason for the Gunners’ issues.
As infuriating as the setbacks are for supporters of the North London club, ultimately those at London Colney aren’t at fault for this level of bad luck.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
