Alan Shearer says Gabriel and Saliba were bullied during Arsenal draw

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Alan Shearer has told Match of the Day that Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba were simply bullied by Ivan Toney as Arsenal drew with Brentford on Saturday.

The Gunners are going through their toughest patch of the season so far. They have now failed to win any of their last three games in all competitions. And Manchester City now have the opportunity to move to within three points ahead of their meeting.

Arsenal were unlucky. Brentford’s equaliser should have been ruled out for offside. However, Shearer may feel that Toney deserved that slice of fortune after a superb display at the Emirates.

Toney gets the better of Saliba and Gabriel

Of course, it is no secret that Toney is one of the best strikers in the Premier League. But he was coming up against one of the best centre-back partnerships in the division on Saturday.

Nevertheless, Shearer was in doubt over who won the battle in the draw.

“He made life so difficult for those Arsenal defenders today, particularly the two centre-halves, he gave them a torrid afternoon. He bullied them, he won every single header that went up to him. His hold-up play was superb,” he told Match of the Day.

It was certainly a day neither Saliba or Gabriel will be particularly pleased with. Remarkably, Saliba won just one of the 11 aerial duels he contested, according to Whoscored.

Meanwhile, Toney won 12. And Toney is, surprisingly, shorter than the Frenchman by some distance. But he is an unbelievable performer in the air.

In some ways, Arsenal’s next game may be a perfect one. They will know that they will need to be virtually perfect to get anything against Manchester City on Wednesday.

It already feels like a game which could decide the destination of the title. Should City lose today and Arsenal then win in the week, they will be nine clear with a game in hand.

Obviously, that is something Gunners fans are probably not allowing themselves to dream about. But with City proving to be very shaky this season, it is not out of the question.

You can guarantee that both Gabriel and Saliba will feel that they have a point to prove up against Erling Haaland.