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former liverpool defender Jamie Carragher claim arsenal Star Gabriel Magalath Is “the most influential player in the industry” Premier League“after The Brazilian opened the scoring and the Gunners won 4-1 of aston villa.
Gabriel Return to Arsenal squad After missing six league games with a hamstring injury, he was named in the starting XI against Brighton for the first time since November 8 when the Gunners face Villa in what has been billed as a clash between title rivals.
The 28-year-old got on the scoresheet soon after half-time and his pressure on Emi Martinez was rewarded when the Argentine goalkeeper dropped the ball for him to score.
The goal highlighted Gabriel’s threat from set-pieces – the Brazilian has already scored twice and assisted twice in the league this season – and provided the platform for the Gunners to then dominate the game.
While Ollie Watkins’ late goal meant Arsenal were unable to keep a clean sheet, Sky Sports pundit Carragher was quick to highlight the impact of the Brazilian’s return, having kept seven league clean sheets in 11 games before kick-off.
“Gabriel’s return is huge. I’ve said before that he’s the most influential player in the Premier League and we saw that again tonight,” Carragher explained.
“Mentally it felt like three points over. It will be a completely different feeling on the training ground tomorrow. It was fantastic for everyone in the stadium tonight,” the former England international added.
The result puts Arsenal six points ahead of Villa in the league, with the Gunners also five points ahead of Manchester City, who now have a game in hand.
Mikel Arteta was quick to echo Carragher’s sentiments, explaining that his side saw the importance of Gabriel returning tonight.
“We saw it today,” Arteta said. “He came back after being out for six weeks, he was supposed to be out for eight weeks but he came back earlier. He was calm and composed against probably one of the best forwards in the league.” [Watkins]who is difficult to label. I think he’s amazing. “
The Brazilian was awarded the Man of the Match award for his key role in the victory and was eventually substituted, although it is not believed to be due to injury.
The Gunners’ next game is against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, January 3.