Ian Wright admits he is worried that Real Madrid will ‘exploit’ Jakub Kiwior during Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final next week.
Arsenal were dealt an enormous setback of their 2-1 win over Fulham on Tuesday night as Gabriel Magalhaes was forced off in the primary half with a hamstring injury.
Mikel Arteta admitted after the sport that he’s ‘frightened’ over the extent of Gabriel’s injury, while Arsenal is also without Ben White, who did not make the matchday squad against Fulham, and Jurrien Timber, who was replaced within the second half on the Emirates Stadium.
Kiwior, meanwhile, covered in central defence alongside William Saliba in Gabriel’s absence within the win over Fulham and is more likely to start against Everton on Saturday with Riccardo Calafiori still sidelined with a knee injury he suffered throughout the international break
Arsenal are then attributable to host Madrid on the Emirates Stadium in the primary leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie next Tuesday.
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And Wright admits he’s frightened about Arsenal’s defensive solidity without Gabriel.
‘It’s a large miss,’ Wright told Premier League Productions.
‘It’s just as big in respects of what Saka does for us going forward, then Gabriel going the opposite way, set-pieces, leadership, warrior that we want.
‘I feel whatever you say, the drop-off from Gabriel, I don’t know the way fit Calafiori is in the mean time, but whenever you’re someone going that quick and pulling up like that, that’s not two weeks, that a month, that’s six weeks, you’ll be able to see it there, he knows himself.
‘The thing is, I do know we’re jumping ahead and speaking about Real Madrid since it is a large game, it’s the massive game of the season for us.
‘Without Gabi Magalhaes in that game you’re Kiwior even today [against Fulham], there’s a few positional moves that you simply just cannot afford to do whenever you play against Real Madrid.
‘They’re on the lookout for any chink within the armour to use, so you wish people who find themselves absolutely bang on it, to have the option to maintain Real Madrid to no goals at home. If Gabi Magalhaes was there I’d feel more confident about that.’
Wright also believes Arsenal need a positive result from the primary leg next week to face any probability of progressing past Madrid to succeed in the Champions League semi final, where they’d play either Aston Villa or Paris Saint-Germain.
‘Missing Gabriel now, we want all the most effective players we are able to get on the market for that specific game because we all know what the Champions League means to Real Madrid and the way much they need to win that, and the way much luck they get in that tournament. We’re going to want all the things we are able to get,’ Wright said.
‘We probably must go to Real Madrid with something. You possibly can’t take a look at a Real Madrid side with the players they’ve got and feel like they’re not going to at the very least get a goal here, so you may have to go to the Bernabeu with something.’
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