Arsenal: Gabriel Paulista An Emerging Threat To Hector Bellerin

Arsenal welcomed back Hector Bellerin by making him watch his replacement continue to shine. Gabriel Paulista is emerging as a serious threat to the Spaniard.

Arsenal made it look rather tough against Burnley, mainly because of Granit Xhaka getting sent off, but one of the better stories of the day was a continued streak of solid performances by Gabriel Paulista.

Related: 5 Things We Learned Against Burnley

The Brazilian is a center back through and through, but with Hector Bellerin’s injury, Carl Jenkinson’s collapse and Mathieu Debuchy’s injury/irrelevance, it fell on Gabriel to handle the right back duties. It was a dicey proposition given Gabriel’s hit-and-miss history with the club, but you could never deny the fact that when Gabriel was healthy, he was on point.

His fight and grit was unmatched though. He definitely belongs in the same conversation as Alexis and Francis Coquelin when it comes to those key traits.

Still, right back?

Well, it worked. And while it may be coming to an end, it was a rewarding experience seeing Gabriel back on the pitch on a regular basis and I look forward to the next chance he gets, which may well be in the cluster of upcoming fixtures.

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However I don’t think it’s all that crazy to think that Gabriel is a threat to young Bellerin. I saw zero weaknesses in Gabriel’s abilities on the right. He was learning how to get forward more and more with each passing match and I have no doubts that he could have started to deliver crosses more consistently with practice.

And it’s not like Bellerin is the best crosser.

Besides, Gabriel’s defensive abilities may even surpass Bellerin. He is a center back after all. The fact that he has the defensive abilities of a center back and the athleticism of a right back just at further credence to the claim.

Another interesting prospect is when considering what it would be like if the Gunners were to utilize a Chelsea-like formation with three center backs and two wing backs. What if we got David Alaba and ran with Koscielny, Mustafi and Gabriel with Bellerin and Alaba out wide.

Can you say fearsome?

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That probably won’t happen though. Still, this new facet to Gabriel’s abilities only makes his value to the club increase. There is quite the diverse array of defenders. Wenger has done well in that regard. You know it’s good when you’re sad to see a fill-in give the role back to the starter.