Gabriel has been voted Arsenal’s men’s Player of the Month for October, getting the biggest share of fan support after a really strong run of performances. He ended up with 45 per cent of the vote, finishing ahead of Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber and Bukayo Saka the club confirms via their official X handle.
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It’s already the sixth time he’s won this award since joining the club and his second of this year after also taking it back in January, which shows how important he’s been lately.
October turned into a huge month for Arsenal in general. The team stayed unbeaten for the second month in a row and put together six straight wins against Olympiacos, West Ham, Fulham, Atletico Madrid, Crystal Palace and lastly a 2-0 win against Brighton in the Carabao Cup, which was reported by Softfootball. It was not always perfect football, but the results kept pushing Arsenal forward in all three competitions, and Gabriel was pretty much in the middle of everything at the back.
The defensive numbers almost say more than anything else. With Gabriel organising things and winning most of his duels, Arsenal did not concede a single goal across those six matches; however, that ended recently in their 2-2 draw against Sunderland, as reported by Softfootball That run allowed the team to equal a long-standing club record for consecutive clean sheets, which does not happen often, and it gave everyone a bit more belief as well.
He was not just defending, either. Gabriel chipped in going forward when Arsenal needed it. He scored the opening goal against Atletico Madrid with a powerful header, and later on he set up Viktor Gyokeres in the same match. Then at Fulham, he created the winner for Leandro Trossard by nodding the ball across the box at exactly the moment it was needed, even if it was not the cleanest touch in the world.
Even when he was not directly assisting or scoring, his presence on set pieces caused problems. His movement helped open the space that led to Ebere Eze’s crucial goal against Crystal Palace, keeping that winning streak going.
