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Arsenal will hope that Piero Hincapie's late and long trip back to north London will not affect his ability to replace Gabriel against Tottenham Hotspur
The news that Gabriel Magalhaes will likely miss the North London Derby comes as a huge blow to Arsenal. Mikel Arteta has already lost so many key players at different stages this season, but to lose the Brazilian for the game with Tottenham Hotspur is a massive hammer blow.
It leaves Arteta thinking immediately of who will replace Gabriel in his back four, and for many, the responsibility falls to one player, Piero Hincapie. The summer signing had an excellent game playing in the position against Brighton in the League Cup, his only start in the role so far since his move to the club in the summer.
He partnered with Cristhian Mosquera that day, who is another option for Arteta against Spurs. William Saliba could move to the left and the Spaniard could maintain his natural right-sided role.
This might indeed be the option if the drawback of Hincapie’s international commitments is considered to be significant. What is meant by this is that the Ecuador international is currently playing for his country across the pond.
He helped keep a clean sheet against Canada as captain in a 0-0 scoreline. However, his final match for Ecuador is scheduled to take place in the early hours of Wednesday, UK time.
Ecuador take on New Zealand in New Jersey as the World Cup stadiums are tested ahead of next year’s competition. A 1:30am kick-off, UK time will see the game end closer to 4am after which Hincapie will get a flight back to England, arriving at the earliest on Wednesday afternoon.
He then will have a restricted number of days to acclimatise again back in north London before potentially being in action with the side on Sunday. The benefit is that this game is one of the later games of the weekend, but the timing of Hincapie’s return remains a blow.
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