Gabriel limped off in Brazil's friendly win over Senegal at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday in what is a crushing blow for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who has already had to deal with a plethora of injuries already this season.
Gabriel is a huge loss
The towering defender looks set for a spell on the sidelines, which reports suggest could be up to two months. Speaking on behalf of Oddspedia, Sagna told Standard Sport that losing Gabriel is a huge loss.
“Gabriel is a rock, he’s so important to the squad
“He’s a natural leader and on set-pieces, he's terrific. He’s been one of the top central defenders in Europe for a long time now.
“With William Saliba, he’s formed one of the best central defensive partnerships I’ve seen for a long time.
“Mikel Arteta is so good at finding solutions, so I’m sure he’ll discover a way to get Arsenal set up well against Tottenham.
“But obviously not having Gabriel available is not good, with everything he can offer at both ends of the pitch.
“I still think they’ll have enough to win, especially at home. But the sooner Gabriel is back in the team, the better!”
Arsenal will survive
However, the former France international has revealed that the Gunners could learn to live without him as Arteta prepares to rotate his side which has been poked full of holes this season. Piero Hincapie is expected to come into their line-up alongside William Saliba in what should be a strong partnership.
“Arsenal are having a great start to the season, they’ve looked very strong,” he said.
“Especially with the fixture list they were handed - Manchester United away, Liverpool away and Manchester City in the first set of matches. Whenever you play the big teams at the start of the season, you have to start well.
“I’m very confident in the quality of the team. They have been very close the last three seasons to winning the Premier League."