Arsenal were held to a 2-2 draw with Sporting CP in their Europa League clash in midweek, with Mikel Arteta having to field a makeshift starting XI due to injury issues.

It wasn’t their finest performance all season, with defenders Ben White and Jakub Kiwior – making his debut – underperforming in the tie and the second leg is all to play for.

Fulham are the opponent this afternoon and with the Premier League title race coming into the final stretch, three points are all that matters, especially considering Manchester City are hot on their heels.

With this in mind, Arteta will be looking to field the strongest line-up he has available and with Kiwior struggling against Sporting, the Spaniard should unleash Gabriel Magalhaes at centre-back alongside William Saliba.

Will Arteta unleash Gabriel against Fulham?

The Brazilian has been in fine form in the league this term for the Gunners, ranking as their second-best defender with a Sofascore rating of 7.04/10, just behind Oleksandr Zinchenko, while Kiwior recorded a score of 6.10 on Thursday.

Across 26 matches, he has scored twice, averaged 75.2 touches, holds a 90% pass success rate, and has kept 11 clean sheets during his time on the pitch, forming a solid partnership with Saliba in the process and this has been the cornerstone behind Arsenal’s excellent league form.

The 25-year-old has also chipped in with 1.3 tackles, 0.8 interceptions, and 3.2 clearances per game while winning 4.7 duels each match – a success rate of 62%.

The £50k-per-week centre-back has played an integral part this season and former Arsenal striker Kevin Campbell even described him as a “rock” back in 2021 and he appears to have significantly improved since then.

Indeed, writer Connor Humm claimed that the player has “gone to another level” since coming back from the World Cup and he must come back into the starting XI this afternoon as the gem could use his newfound form to dominate the Cottagers.

Fulham have the eighth-best total for goals scored in the league this term as they have enjoyed their first season back in the Premier League, and having narrowly lost to the Gunners in the reverse fixture back in August, Arteta will have to be on his guard, which is why Gabriel must come back into the side to replace Kiwior at the heart of the defence.