Manchester United icon Gary Neville has hailed the impact of Gabriel Magalhaes after he scored Arsenal’s opener against West Ham in the Premier League.
Gabriel opened the floodgates at the London Stadium in the first half when his header at the near post beat Lukasz Fabianski in the home goal. The opener was the trademark of the Gunners in recent years as they have become experts at dead-ball routines.
Despite the Brazilian making such a goal his calling card in recent years, it did not stop Neville from hailing the player’s impact from build-up to execution. “That is just incredible,” he exclaimed on Sky Sports’ co-commentary.
“Gabriel, he has conducted that goal from start to finish. He went over to [Bukayo] Saka and stopped him midway from walking to the corner flag and started communicating with him then went and talked to the group.
And then went, more importantly, and headed it in the back of the net. The pace is on the cross, he just stoops down Gabriel and glances it home brilliantly.”
Arsenal’s superb half only escalated from there as Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz all scored before the break to put the North London club in a commanding position. Mikel Arteta’s men did suffer a wobble shortly after making it 4-0 as Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emerson Palmieri both scored to give the host’s hope before the break.
