Gary Neville gives brutal Arsenal response to Gabriel injury and says 'no one is going to buy it'

• Arsenal
• Arsenal News
• Arsenal

Arsenal will be without defender Gabriel for a number of weeks due to injury but Gary Neville insists his absence cannot be an excuse for any dropped points

Gary Neville has warned that there are no hiding places for Arsenal despite the recent injury blow to defender Gabriel.

The Brazilian sustained the issue while on international duty, having been forced off in the second half of last weekend’s friendly win over Senegal. In his pre-match press conference on Friday, Mikel Arteta confirmed the centre-back will spend the next few weeks on the sidelines, although the exact timeline for his recovery remains unclear.

It has arguably come at the worst possible time for the Gunners as they prepare for a huge week both domestically and in Europe, beginning with the visit of Tottenham on Sunday afternoon. Tricky fixtures against Bayern Munich and Chelsea then follow.

Arteta’s side currently sit top of the Premier League, three points ahead of Chelsea in second and four clear of Manchester City. They can extend that lead to six and seven points respectively with a victory over bitter rivals Spurs in the North London derby.

But, according to pundit Neville, Gabriel’s absence will not suffice as an excuse if points are dropped - even though the defender has scored two goals and registered three assists across all competitions so far this season.

"He [Gabriel] is a big loss," Neville said on Sky Sports prior to kick-off. "When you see those two at the back, straight away you're thinking that there's not a lot going to happen attacking wise for the other team.

"Put the goalkeeper on top of that. The full-backs and the midfield protection. They are a formidable outfit defensively and he is a big part of that.

"They have to step up. No one is going to buy into 'we haven't got Gabriel, that's why we dropped a few points. That's why we lost the league.

"I'm sorry, this has been going on for four years now. You have to live without your best players sometimes. [Cristhian] Mosquera has done a very good job. He's good, he's solid. Go keep a clean sheet without Gabriel. That's the job today."

That said, it is in fact summer signing Piero Hincapie who will partner William Saliba in defence against Tottenham. The Ecuadorian joined the Gunners on loan from Bayer Leverkusen in September but has been limited to just a handful of appearances so far due to injury.