Gabriel Magalhaes has arguably been a rock in Arsenal’s defence this season, taking on large amounts of responsibility not only at the back but front too.
The 26-year old Brazilian has come into light this season more so than ever, creeping up with crucial goals just like former Arsenal defender and legend Tony Adams.
Adams was a pivotal player in Arsene Wenger’s early squad which saw the Frenchman claim three Premier League titles in the space of six seasons, from 1998-2004.
Adam’s rounded off Everton at Highbury in a 4-0 victory witnessing Wenger earn his first trophy in charge at North London, as well as The Gunners first ever Premier League title in May 1998.
He caught the Merseysider’s defence napping catching an impressive through ball in the air before bringing it down and carelessly smashing his effort into the bottom left corner of goal.
Despite Gabriel not helping Arsenal as of yet seal a Premier League trophy since arriving at The Emirates in 2020, he has certainly popped up when needed this season allowing us to grab much needed points and victory.
Last month Gabriel ensured we won four points out of six Premier League points versus Spurs and Manchester City in a match we simply couldn’t afford to lose.
To start off with he scored Arsenal’s only goal against Tottenham helping us win 1-0 away from home, with a towering header forcing our arch rival’s defence to fully capitulate.
A week later he was on fire again at the Etihad which we’ve only won at once in the past decade. After Arsenal went a goal down to The Citizens, following Riccardo Calafiori’s equaliser, Gabriel scored another impressive forceful header from a corner, handing The Gunners a welcome advantage before a 2-2 draw in the last second denied victory.
If you look at the stats Gabriel has netted 14 times in the past four seasons, nearly all in the Premier League, which is better than the number of times Adams scored (12) in 255 Premiership matches across over double that time (nine years).
It’s still early days in Gabriel’s career but who’s to say he won’t reach the prestigious reputation of Adams, if not greater?
Liam Harding
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Better than Tony Adams? Someone’s been on the hard stuff, as good as Gabriel is he doesn’t come close to the legend that is Tony Adams. The scoring of goals does win games but stopping the opposition scoring is more important for a defender. Having said that, Adams’ famous celebration after scoring that 4th goal against Everton with a piledriver into the net from 20 yards is depicted in his statue outside the Emirates.
He won’t
Cue someone saying ….it’s not impossible
Mr Arsenal, Tony Adams, scored over 30 League goals for The Arsenal, so Gabriel has got quite a way to go before even equaling TA6’s goals scored.