Garth Crooks thinks Gabriel Magalhaes is reason behind Arsenal’s good form

Garth Crooks believes the form of Gabriel Magalhaes has massively helped Arsenal’s continued improvement under Mikel Arteta this season.

The Gunners returned to winning ways at the weekend after comfortably beating Southampton 3-0, with Gabriel scoring the hosts’ third of the match at the Emirates Stadium.

The 23-year-old defender has now scored twice in the Premier League this season for Arsenal – with both of them being thumping headers from corners, as he continues to be a surprise goal threat for the Gunners.

As well as being a constant goal threat from set-pieces, the Brazil defender has also been solid at the back for Arsenal, as he has formed an excellent partnership with Ben White at the heart of the Gunners’ back four.

Now, Crooks, when writing in his weekly BBC Sports Team of the Week column, has included Gabriel in his XI and heaped praise on the former Lille defender.

Crooks said: “Arsenal weren’t at their best for much of the first-half against Southampton but I do not think they have been at their best at any point this season.

“In fact, how they are sixth in the table is a mystery to me. Ever since they beat Spurs in the North London Derby, they seem to be grinding out games without playing particularly well.

“One of the reasons they have continued to improve under Mikel Arteta is the performances of Gabriel. Whenever the Brazilian is available, Arsenal look solid at the back and also a threat in attack.”

Crooks also spoke about Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who Arteta confirmed before the match was left out of the squad due to a “disciplinary breach”.

The BBC Sport pundit wrote: “As for their captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being left out of the starting line-up for disciplinary reasons, he should stay out until he knows how to conduct himself.”

Overall, it was a solid performance from Arsenal on Saturday, despite Southampton perhaps having the better of the opening exchanges and Arteta was delighted with how his team did.

He said: “In the first 15 minutes, we started the game a little bit nervy and we could not dominate the game.

“After that, I think we picked up the rhythm of the game, we scored a really good goal and after that, we started to dominate the game better and better.

“After half-time, we encouraged the players to keep going and be an attacking threat and I think we did that really well and we created more chances to score more goals. Overall, after a defeat, it is good to get a performance and a result like that.”