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Arsenal boss confirms this player is set to start against Everton

By on December 12, 2016

Arsene Wenger has confirmed Gabriel is set to come in against Everton after Shkodran Mustafi was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Mustafi limped out of our 3-1 win over Stoke City on Saturday and the boss revealed at his pre-match press conference this morning that he’ll miss the next three weeks.

The German international is going to be a huge miss as he’s been excellent since moving to north London from Valencia in the summer and has become a key member of our first team.

Mustafi is expected to miss at least the next three games against Everton, Manchester City and West Brom and his absence means we’ve got a huge void to fill alongside Laurent Koscielny in the middle of defence.

With Per Mertesacker still unavailable as he continues to work his way back to full fitness following a serious knee injury, Gabriel is the next in-line to come in and Wenger has confirmed he’s set to play at Goodison Park.

The boss is also confident the Brazilian international can do well over the coming games after regaining his confidence following some impressive displays at right-back, despite an on-going language barrier problem.

After confirming to reporters that Gabriel will face the Toffees, Arsene is quoted as saying by the Evening Standard:

It is a challenge [to replace Mustafi], because we had a good defensive stability but we have Gabriel, we have Holding, who can come in for him. Overall, I am confident that both can do well, but that’s one of the tests we have.

I must say It’s still not perfect [Gabriel’s English]. But he’s wanting always to do well. He has adapted very well to the right-back position and I think it helped him to lift his level of confidence. Hopefully he can come in and do well.

It’s a huge blow to lose Mustafi at such an important time of the year, especially as we’ve got two tough away games coming up, but hopefully Gabriel can come in and put in some solid performances.