Similar to his initial post-match words, Mikel Arteta doesn’t seem concerned about Gabriel Magalhaes‘ (£6.2m) withdrawal on Wednesday night.
He was flattened by his own goalkeeper and subsequently taken off after second-half treatment versus Olympiacos.
Arteta played it down afterwards, saying that the defender should be fine, despite referencing a different “kick” to the David Raya (£5.6m) incident.
”I think he’s going to be OK. He felt something, I think it was a kick, I’m not sure, in the first half, and he was a bit uncomfortable, and towards the second half he was there.
“He could carry on, but we decided not to take any risks because he’s played a lot of games, he’s coming from a long-term injury as well, and we need to look after him.” – Mikel Arteta, after Wednesday’s win over Olympiacos
Will Gabriel start against West Ham?
Arsenal’s Friday press conference, predictably, didn’t bring much of an update to over three million Fantasy Premier League (FPL) owners.
”Yes, well, we’ll have to wait and see after training… see how everybody is, but we weren’t too concerned about him.” – Mikel Arteta when asked to confirm his midweek prognosis of Gabriel
”Mm-hmm, yeah.” – Mikel Arteta when pressed again if his initial outlook of not being too concerned about Gabriel remains the same
Whether or not he starts at home to West Ham United is the big question that concerns FPL managers.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 7 team news – Friday’s injury updates
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 7 team news – Thursday’s injury updates
Fellow centre-back Piero Hincapie (£5.4m) won’t recover in time due to a groin problem, which could keep Gabriel in the lineup. After all, the Gunners won’t be slacking off, knowing they’ve lost their last two Emirates Stadium meetings with the Hammers.
Medium-to-long-term absentees Noni Madueke (£6.9m), Kai Havertz (£7.3m) and Gabriel Jesus (£6.4m) also remain unavailable.
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