Gabriel Paulista Must Be Arsenal’s First-Choice Center Back

Arsenal’s defense this season had been one of their strongest assets. Even when they were having trouble scoring goals, they were still defending well and keeping opposing attacks at bay. The center back pairing when all that was happening was the athletic duo of Gabriel Paulista and Laurent Koscielny.

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Arsenal’s back four benefits immensely when these two are paired together. They have to keep those benefits incoming. Per Mertesacker’s lack of pace and agility makes him a liability against certain teams. Despite how great the BFG has been, he is still incredibly susceptible to being caught out of position. His positioning and intelligence often makes up for it, but with Arsenal’s counter attack being their calling card in attack, they need athleticism at the back to cancel out any reactionary counters from the opposition.

However, Per Mertesacker’s biggest proponent is his leadership. He has become the captain in light of Mikel Arteta’s irrelevance. The German has really stepped up to the role this year. But that does not mean that leadership alone should keep him on the pitch. It does not work that way (again, see Mikel Arteta).

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There was a stretch where Arsenal had not surrendered a goal while Gabriel was on the pitch. Obviously that came to and end. But the point is that the ability that the Brazilian has in conjunction with Laurent Koscielny is too dynamic to pass up on. They are nearly carbon copies of one another.

Gabriel has rarely been exposed this year. The sole exception being the first (of many) goals scored by Bayern Munich in Germany.

Statistically, Gabriel averages more tackles and less interceptions than Koscielny. Compared to Per Mertesacker, Gabriel is averaging more tackles and more interceptions (stats via WhoScored.com). Again, the perfect combo.

Now that Gabriel has received the call-up to the Brazilian national side again, it would be pretty advantageous to keep that momentum rolling with a bit more game time. It was a bit questionable what exactly prompted Mertesacker taking the first-team role back. The only indication was that once Gabriel got sick. Mertesacker put in a few solid outings and was somehow preferred.

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What was forgotten was that prior to being sick, Gabriel had been on a fine run of his own at Arsenal. Logically, he should have moved right back into his starting position.

It is a good problem to have. Arsenal have three high-quality center backs, all of whom deserve to be starting. It just so happens that Gabriel should be chosen second.

What do you think Gooners? Who should be starting next to Laurent Koscielny?