Gabriel got up, and Arsenal are level on points at the top
Gabriel Magalhães went down, the Emirates went silent, and Mikel Arteta admitted afterwards that everyone on the touchline was frightened: "Gabi is a great example of that because we were all scared. Not because of the way he went down, but the reaction of the players that were next to him" (5). Gabriel got up. Ten minutes later he had scored in a 2–0 win over Everton (1). That is the week in one sentence. Arsenal are second on 21 points from eight games with a goal difference of +8, level on points with Manchester City, and they got there on Saturday with both goals coming from centre-backs (1) (19).
The defence is not a bonus, it is the plan
Ezri Konsa and Gabriel scored, David Raya kept another clean sheet, and Arteta singled out Konsa's influence afterwards (19) (21). Martin Keown went further and called Gabriel "a legend of the football club" (7). With William Saliba unavailable, that praise is not nostalgia, it is a warning label. Gabriel is the one part of this structure Arsenal cannot lose, and everyone in the ground knew it when he hit the turf.
Riccardo Calafiori then picked up a knock of his own, which Arteta described as "a slight issue, we don't know what it is, it seems to be something very small" (9) (10). Small or not, the defensive depth is thinning week by week.
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Gyökeres started, and the striker question got louder
Viktor Gyökeres made his first Premier League start since May and did not score. He is still without a league goal this season (15). The defence of him is real: two assists in two games, work that creates space for others (8). But Arsenal won this match with goals from defenders while their striker watched the ball go in. Gabby Agbonlahor has already declared the club will "100 per cent" sell him (25), which says more about the noise economy than the football.
The honest read is that Arsenal are winning in spite of the centre-forward position, not because of it. That works in October. It gets harder in February.
Ödegaard is the thing that makes it flow
Paul Merson picked the captain as his standout performer after the Everton match: "Jag tyckte att Ødegaard var enastående. Han får spelet att flyta, han är så trygg med bollen, har en fantastisk vänsterfot, han är helt enkelt en riktigt, riktigt bra spelare" (3) (4). Merson is right, and the phrasing matters. Ödegaard does not dominate matches, he unknots them. With Saka out and the attack reshuffled, that calming presence is the reason seven goals have come from set pieces and second phases rather than open-play brilliance.
What comes next
Liverpool away on Sunday 1 November, 17:30 CET. That is the fixture this week has been quietly building toward, and Arsenal arrive level on points with City but with half a defence carrying knocks. Before that, the EFL Cup trip to Fleetwood Town on Tuesday, where Max Dowman and Marli Salmon are expected to feature (17) (18). Watch the team sheet at Fleetwood more closely than the scoreline. It will tell you exactly how much Arteta trusts the squad he has, seven days before he needs it at Anfield.
