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Arsenal dealt blow as key man picks up injury ahead of Leicester

By on February 13, 2016

arsenal gabriel paulista

Sigh. It looks like we’ve suffered a huge injury blow on the eve of the biggest game of the season as Gabriel missed training today with a thigh problem.

The Brazilian international was expected to keep his place in the back four against Leicester City tomorrow for our crucial title showdown against the league leaders.

However, the Daily Express are one of several media outlets who are reporting that the 25-year-old wasn’t out on the training pitch with the rest of the first team squad on Saturday afternoon.

There was no sign of the defender in any of the photos from today’s session which were published on Arsenal.com earlier, so it certainly appears he wasn’t present at training today.

It’s reported that Gabriel has picked up a thigh injury and is now considered as a major doubt for tomorrow’s clash with Leicester at the Emirates, with some outlets suggesting he’s been ruled out for three weeks.

We’ll have to wait and see how much truth there is behind those reports but if he does miss out tomorrow, it’s going to be a major blow as it means Per Mertesacker will have to start in defence and he’ll be up against the pace of Vardy, Mahrez and Okazaki.

I said in my preferred line-up post yesterday that Gabriel’s inclusion tomorrow was vital to help cope with the pace Leicester have on the counter-attack, so unfortunately I think we’re really going to feel his absence.

Let’s hope the reports have been exaggerated and the injury isn’t serious, and that Gabriel is able to make a swift recovery to feature against the Foxes on Sunday.