‘I’m surprised’: Pundit baffled by Arteta decision on £23m Arsenal star

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Mikel Arteta made a mistake not substituting Gabriel Magalhaes sooner during Arsenal’s win over Chelsea on Tuesday with the centre-back clearly struggling with injury.

That is the view of Karen Carney, who was speaking on Sky Sports’ commentary (broadcast on 2/5; 21:40) as the Gunners closed in on an emphatic victory over the Blues.

Arsenal were largely in cruise control against Frank Lampard’s side. The visitors’ second-half goal made the scoreline a lot more respectable than it had any right to be.

Carney unsure why Gabriel stayed on so long in Arsenal win

It was nearly the perfect night for the Gunners. But there was one setback in the second-half. Gabriel Magalhaes was replaced with five minutes of normal time remaining after seemingly struggling with injury on a number of occasions in the second-half.

Of course, Arsenal have already lost William Saliba over the last few weeks. So losing Gabriel as well would be a huge blow ahead of the final games of the season.

And with Arsenal blowing Chelsea away, Carney admitted that she could not understand why Mikel Arteta was not taking him off as Gabriel went down five minutes before being replaced.

“I’m surprised at that,” she told Sky Sports. “Why he didn’t do that a bit earlier. Protect him a little bit. The game was pretty secure.”

Perhaps Arsenal’s recent form influenced Mikel Arteta’s decision. Unfortunately, they have allowed Manchester City back into the title race by throwing away leads against the likes of Liverpool and West Ham. They also conceded three times against Southampton.

So he may not have felt entirely comfortable at 3-0 – or as comfortable as he should have been, at least. With that, he may have trusted Gabriel to carry on.

It could hurt Arsenal a lot more however, if the £23 million Brazilian misses any game-time from now on.