Arsenal’s Europa League defeat to Sporting CP last night could be spun as both a positive and a negative depending on who you ask. Of course, it wrecks the clubs chances of winning only a second major European trophy in their history, yet the penalty shootout loss may prove to be beneficial when it comes to the Gunners chasing their first Premier League title since 2003/2004.

Fewer matches will mean more recovery time between games and with Manchester City breathing down their neck, some of the Emirates faithful may be slightly relieved of an early European exit.

Mikel Arteta was forced to make two changes in the first half as William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu had to be substituted due to injury and the match ended 1-1 after extra time.

Aaron Ramsdale failed to stop any of the five Sporting spot kicks and the Portuguese outfit prevailed. Despite the poor result, there were a few solid performers in the Gunners line-up.

Granit Xhaka scored his fifth goal of the campaign while earning a Sofascore rating of 8.2/10 for his efforts. He took 107 touches during the match, succeeded with three of his four dribble attempts and had two shots during the tie, yet his defensive output was also outstanding.

The Swiss international made an impressive six tackles, won 16 duels, made three clearances and blocked two shots. It was defender Gabriel however, who could well have been Arteta’s hero during the tie.

How did Gabriel play against Sporting CP?

The towering centre-back had a fine game, despite the eventual shootout defeat. He ranked second behind Xhaka in terms of overall rating via Sofascore, averaging 7.5/10 and proved he was an unmovable object at the heart of the defence.

The Brazilian took 93 touches during the match, while no one from the Sporting side managed to dribble past him – justifying his “rock” praise from Kevin Campbell previously – in 120 minutes.

He made three tackles, two interceptions and two clearances in all whilst also winning 100% of his aerial duels and Arteta couldn’t have asked for more from his 25-year-old.

Sporting scored a ridiculous 46-yard goal which forced extra time, yet there was nothing Gabriel could do to prevent it, and he even had two chances to score the winner during the dying embers of extra time.

Firstly, his header was tipped over the bar, then he had an effort cleared off the line which would have seen Arsenal through to the quarter-final stage.

It wasn’t to be unfortunately, although losing could well be a blessing in disguise for the North Londoners, and thoughts will now turn to their match against Crystal Palace on Sunday.