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Arsenal have not conceded a goal in the league when Gabriel Paulista has been playing this season

Arsenal are yet to concede a goal when the Brazilian has been on the pitch in the league - but Europe is a very different story

Jack de Menezes

Wednesday 07 October 2015 20:27 BST

Arsenal have not conceded when Gabriel Paulista has played in the Premier League (Getty Images)

Has Arsene Wenger identified the man that will fire Arsenal to the Premier League title?

No, it’s not Mesut Özil or Alexis Sanchez. Nor is it Theo Walcott. It’s none other than defender Gabriel Paulista.

The Brazilian centre-back hit the headlines earlier this season for all the wrong reasons as he was sent-off for his part in a dispute with Chelsea striker Diego Costa, with referee Mike Dean showing Gabriel a straight red card for kicking out at the Brazilian-born Spaniard despite receiving a booking just seconds before.

However, a look at the stats may suggest the Gabriel is more important to the Gunners than his hot-head reaction hints at.

Arsenal’s defence made a shaky start to the season as they shipped two goals in the opening defeat to West Ham, before Wenger lost both Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny to illness and injury respectively.

Arsenal's best and worst players in September

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1/6Arsenal's best and worst players in September

Arsenal's best and worst players in September

GOOD: Alexis Sanchez

Wenger admitted he was concerned about the form of Sanchez, fearing he may have brought the forward back into the fold too quickly following his exploits with Chile in the Copa America over the summer. However, a brilliant hat-trick against Leicester put such talk to bed and was one of the stand-out moments of September for Arsenal.

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Arsenal's best and worst players in September

GOOD: Theo Walcott

Goals in four of the six games is a decent return from the England international and has reaffirmed Arsene Wenger's trust that he can play as the central striker. However, there's room for improvement from Walcott, with numerous decent chances going begging across the month.

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Arsenal's best and worst players in September

GOOD: Mathieu Flamini

He only played two games during the month (and one of those was for just 21 minutes before he was taken off) but his contribution when he played the full 90 will live long in the memory of Arsenal fans. The French spoiler scored two goals against Tottenham in the Capital One Cup to earn his side victory, with the second an absolute peach of a finish.

Arsenal's best and worst players in September

BAD: David Ospina

Wenger has persisted with his policy of using his back-up goalkeeper for cup matches this season. Considering Petr Cech's arrival was hailed as providing this Arsenal side with experience and know-how in the biggest games, it was perhaps a strange decision on the part of the Arsenal manager. Whilst Ospina played in the win over Spurs, when it came to the Champions League he played two, lost two and conceded five goals. His howler in the 3-2 defeat to Olympiakos could be the defining moment should Arsenal fail to progress from the group stage.

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Arsenal's best and worst players in September

BAD: Olivier Giroud

Scored half the number of goals of Walcott, but most notably, was shown a red card in the Champions League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb. It came from two completely unnecessary bookings inside 40 minutes of the match and contributed to his team's loss. His subsequent suspension also meant Wenger was unable to call on the French striker when in need of a goal against Olympiakos.

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Arsenal's best and worst players in September

BAD: Aaron Ramsey

Whilst Gabriel's stupidity in reacting to Diego Costa and getting sent off against Chelsea made him a contender to be among the worst Arsenal players of the month, Aaron Ramsey beats him to it for his lack of influence in midfield. Having started four of the Gunners' six games and come on a sub in another, the Welshman failed to provide a single goal or assist. Needs to be doing more.

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That forced the Arsenal manager Wenger to call on Gabriel for the 0-0 draw with Liverpool in late August, and the result is trend that has continued since he came into the starting line-up. Arsenal are yet to concede in the Premier League when Gabriel has been on the pitch, and have won three of the five games that he has started in.

The one rather large exception is the 2-0 defeat to the Blues, although both goals came after Gabriel was sent-off and while he can be blamed for the loss, Arsenal successfully appealed against the red card and would argue that he should never have been dismissed.

In Europe though, it’s a very different story. Gabriel started both Champions League matches against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos, and the Gunners are yet to taste anything other than defeat in the competition having conceded twice against the Croatians before shipping three goals to the Greek side.

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