Mikel Arteta says Gabriel Magalhaes gives Arsenal a “unique” presence at both ends of the pitch after scoring on his 200th Premier League appearance.
Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, with Ezri Konsa putting the hosts ahead with his first goal for the club before Gabriel doubled their advantage after half-time.
The Brazilian’s header was his 14th in the Premier League. Only Olivier Giroud, with 27, has scored more headed goals for Arsenal in the competition, while Ian Wright is also on 14.
Gabriel’s effort was also his first Premier League goal that did not come from a set-piece situation.
Arsenal’s two centre-backs were both on the scoresheet for the first time since February 2024, when Gabriel and William Saliba scored in a 6-0 victory over David Moyes’ West Ham.
Gabriel also came through the match without injury after making an awkward lunge to cut out a cross early in the second half.
“I think he’s one of the best centre-backs in the world, no question, with the impact he has in both boxes,” Arteta told Sky Sports.
“His leadership, his presence, what he offers to the rest of the boys is unique and we’re very happy to have him.”
Arteta made five changes for the game, which was Arsenal’s third in fewer than six days, and was pleased with the way his side responded.
“Really happy. We made five changes. We’ve had three games in less than six days, so we knew how tough it was going to be,” he said.
“But I thought the team performed really well. I thought it was really active from the beginning, put a lot of pressure on the opposition.
“Players are in good moments and they need minutes. They all did really well.”
Everton had started the season unbeaten in their opening six Premier League matches, recording two wins and four draws, but have now suffered consecutive defeats without scoring.
The result was the 400th defeat of Moyes’ managerial career across all competitions. Arsenal have been responsible for 31 of those losses, more than any other opponent.
Everton fell behind after only seven minutes, and Moyes felt conceding so early made it difficult for his team to recover.
“[Going 1-0 down early] made it hard and we couldn’t really get ourselves back into the game after that,” he told BBC Match of the Day.
“Huffed and puffed a little bit, stuck at it for long parts of the game, which was good. We never gave them anything easy but, in the end, we didn’t have enough.
“We didn’t do enough in an attacking sense, but we certainly did a really good job defensively, trying to make it difficult.”
