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Arsenal could be without centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes for their clash with Nottingham Forest after he was seen limping down the tunnel following the defeat to PSV Eindhoven on Thursday (27 October).
The defender has played every minute of the Gunners' superb Premier League campaign so far, as they sit two points clear at the top of the table. The Brazilian was a substitute for Arsenal's clash with PSV in the Europa League, a tie which the north London club lost 2-0.
Gabriel came on for the final 16 minutes of the encounter in Eindhoven. As per The Telegraph's Sam Dean, the centre-back was 'grimacing in pain' as the team headed down the tunnel after full-time. Arteta did not comment on his player's condition after the game.
Arsenal may have been knocked off the top spot by the time they host Forest on Sunday (30 October) with Manchester City taking on Leicester City a day prior. However, the Gunners will be strong favorites to beat Steve Cooper's side, who currently lie bottom of the table.
Should Gabriel miss the weekend fixture, the Gunners have multiple options to fill the gap, Ben White could move to centre-back, with Takehiro Tomiyasu filling in at right-bac. Rob Holding could also make his first Premier League start of the campaign.
Mikel Arteta reflects on 'worrying' Arsenal performance
The Premier League leaders suffered only their second defeat of the season against PSV Eindhoven as they failed to secure the top spot in their Europa League group. More worryingly for supporters, the Gunners displayed the type of defensive frailties that have plagued the team for years.
Arteta struggled to hide his frustrations after the game, as he told a press conference (as per Arsenal's official website):
"I don’t know. We have periods where we’ve been excellent and periods where we’ve suffered. For sure, we haven’t had the consistency for 95 minutes to maintain the level we want. That’s the next challenge and the next aim for this team. Today, I think it was very different, right from the beginning."
"Even though we had periods where we controlled the game, I didn’t feel that we had the threat and the aggression that we’ve been playing at. That was worrying. In the second half, the moment something went wrong, we just went down and we didn’t really find moments to give us some hope to react and get something out of the game."
