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Arsenal thumped Aston Villa 4-1 in Premier League action with Gabriel Magalhaes and Declan Rice celebrating emphatically
Declan Rice had the perfect reaction to Gabriel Magalhaes copying Amadou Onana's celebration after Arsenal beat Aston Villa. The Brazil international opened the scoring on his return during a rampant second half in which Martin Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus were also on target.
Having lost to Villa in the reverse fixture just a few weeks ago, it was no surprise that Arsenal's stars were filled with joy in the tunnel after the win. A video posted to Arsenal's social media showed Martin Odegaard passionately shout into the camera before Gabriel put out three fingers, put them in his coat pocket and zipped it up.
With Villa having won 11 games in all competitions, that has become a common celebration for Onana in the tunnel. However, Gabriel pulled out that specific celebration on Tuesday evening and explained his reasons for doing so.
He said: "Those sort of things spur you on. It's good fun. It's fun for them. It's fun for us as well. Like I said, we’ll get the three points."
The only blemish for Mikel Arteta's side was missing out on a tenth clean sheet of the season as Ollie Watkins grabbed a late consolation goal. Gabriel had left the pitch by that point after receiving treatment from physios which sparked fears of an injury.
It has since been confirmed that his withdrawal was due to cramp having not played for the last six weeks due to injury.
Declan Rice does however, have an issue with the midfielder absent for the win over Villa after suffering a knee injury against Brighton last weekend.
It does not look likely to be a long-term issue following Arteta's updates and his reaction on the way to Arsenal's dressing room as Gabriel walked away smugly.
In gloves and a hat, Rice moved swiftly to ensure the camera spotted him celebrating with both arms outstretched and his hands in a fist alongside the huge smile on his face.
Speaking about Rice's absence, Arteta told Sky Sports: "Declan got a big kick in his knee at the start of the match [vs Brighton] actually and it had a massive swell up, so this game was too early for him.
The Arsenal boss added added: "I hope it will be [short-term]. Once the swelling comes down he can start to function and he will be fine."
When asked after the game if he expects to have him back this weekend, the Arsenal boss said: "Depends and the swelling has to come right down for him to start to function. He is improving, but let's wait for the next couple of days."
Arsenal travel to Bournemouth this weekend with Antoine Semenyo potentially absent. Head coach Andoni Iraola expects to have him available but he appears to be edging closer towards a January transfer to Manchester City.
Following that away clash, Arsenal host Liverpool before taking on Portsmouth and Chelsea in the FA and Carabao Cup, respectively.
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