Flagged as a doubt to take part, Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.4m) not only started but proved why he’s the best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) defender to own.
Here are our Scout Notes from Arsenal v Crystal Palace.
GABRIEL SHINES
In Friday’s press conference, Mikel Arteta pulled off another one of his media tricks by saying “whether he’s available or not” about Gabriel, a defender in over 4.3 million FPL squads.
It hinted that the centre-back wouldn’t play but, to the initial disappointment of those hoping for a Joe Rodon (£4.1m) autosub, the Brazilian started.
Still, he, David Raya (£5.7m), Jurrien Timber (£6.0m) and Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m) all ended Sunday with a third successive clean sheet. Although not William Saliba (£6.0m), taken off at half-time.
And Gabriel tried his best to outdo the Leeds United defender’s 13-point haul. A long wait eventually decided that he didn’t assist the game’s only goal, given instead to free-kick taker Declan Rice (£6.6m).
In a nutshell, it was deemed that Rice’s free-kick came off Sarr – and not Gabriel – before bouncing down for Eze.
Early in the second half, a Gabriel header then hit the crossbar. Furthering the pain is seeing him finish just outside the defensive contributions (DefCon) threshold, stuck on nine actions.
But when you add in his three bonuses, it means a fourth consecutive occasion where the 27-year-old has collected nine or more points. He feels essential.
ARTETA ON THREE KNOCKS
Briefly back to Saliba, Arteta confirmed post-match that he, Rice and Calafiori have slight problems.
“The first one was William [Saliba]. He was out after the first half. Declan [Rice] was struggling from the first half with a knock that he took. Ricky [Calafiori] was another one. Let’s see how they recover.” – Mikel Arteta
EZE OUTDOES SAKA + GYOKERES
Meanwhile, this was the second match in a row where both Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) and Viktor Gyokeres (£9.0m) blanked, mocking the recent debate over which one provides the best Arsenal attacking coverage.
We’re still no closer to determining whether or not they’ll share penalties, though Saka’s 66th-minute removal meant Gyokeres played more minutes.
“He has been ill. He has not trained. We didn’t know if he was going to be able to play. He managed to play a few minutes but the longer the game went, he was going to fatigue and we didn’t want to risk injury.” – Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka’s withdrawal
Not that it mattered. Neither created a chance, both being limited to just one shot that missed the target. Between them, 0.22 expected goal involvement (xGI).
Perhaps Eberechi Eze (£7.6m) is the answer. He scored here against his former club, making it four attacking returns in six outings, while Rice has three in four.
Furthermore, he should keep starting in midfield while Martin Odegaard (£7.9m) recovers from a knee injury.
EYES ON MATETA
Arsenal’s defensive superiority limited Crystal Palace to one shot on target, as Eagles duo Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.6m) and Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m) matched the quietness of Saka and Gyokeres.
Despite that, expect recent hat-trick hero Mateta to be a popular Gameweek 10 replacement for either Gyokeres or Joao Pedro (£7.5m). These two are on a five-match drought, but Palace have attractive upcoming fixtures.
It’s probably worth noting that Palace’s 19-game unbeaten run has been followed by three defeats in four.
At least centre-backs Marc Guehi (£4.9m) and Maxence Lacroix (£5.1m) grabbed a couple of DefCon points.
