Although perhaps frustrated not to win, Mikel Arteta must be coming away from Arsenal’s draw against Manchester City feeling proud.
Arteta oversaw an Arsenal performance that was unrecognisable from their display at the Etihad at a similar point last year, a testament to how far they’ve come.
Arsenal fans still often ask the question of if they would have been able to win the league last season were William Saliba not struck down by injury.
Rob Holding entered the fray back then as his substitution and simply couldn’t deliver anything near the Frenchman’s levels.
And today at least proved that Arsenal would have been able to compete in that tie last season, with Saliba’s player of the match award today proving what a difference he makes.
Ben White was also outstanding on the right today, providing an excellent outlet going forwards in the first half when Man City were suffocating Arsenal’s back line.
However, when watching the game it felt as if Gabriel Magalhaes was the outstanding performer of the day, marshalling and nullifying Erling Haaland on his own turf.
Haaland destroyed Holding last season, but was aggressively countered by Gabriel today.
Gabriel Magalhaes was outstanding in Arsenal’s draw against Man City today
Of course, there won’t be too many Arsenal fans displeased to hear Gary Neville praising Saliba when handing him the player of the match award this evening.
However, it did feel as if Gabriel was massively overlooked.
Yes, the stats are in Saliba’s favour, via Sofascore he won eight duels in comparison to Gabriel’s two, and made three tackles in comparison to one solitary effort by the Brazilian, but the eye test said otherwise.
Gabriel nullified Haaland better than any defender has all season, it was a monumental performance.
And whilst it doesn’t ultimately matter who was handed the player of the match award, Gabriel does need to be handed his credit – as he will be once the dust settles.
Arsenal can win the league if William Saliba and Gabriel stay fit
The £25m-defender is often in Saliba’s shadow, a reality of the Frenchman being a generational talent, but Gabriel is right up there too.
It still almost feels as if his spell out of the team in the early weeks of the season wrongly created the idea that the Brazilian was interchangeable.
He’s not, and he’s absolutely crucial to everything Arsenal will be doing moving forward.
Gabriel probably won’t mind being the underrated side of the duo, and will be delighted that his fellow Arsenal defender matched his levels in the draw against City today.
But it’s time for Gabriel to start being recognised as one of the best defenders in the Premier League, and there will be no better way for him to prove it than winning the title.
All that being said, Thomas Tuchel has now been making some comments about Arsenal before their Champions League tie.
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