Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
George Flood

Arsenal star hits back at Tottenham rival after derby day demolition

Celebrations: Piero Hincapie, Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes pose for pictures after Arsenal beat Tottenham 4-1 - (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsenal defender Gabriel teased Tottenham striker Richarlison on social media after Sunday’s one-sided north London derby clash.

The Gunners brushed aside their arch-rivals with ease at the Emirates Stadium, with Eberechi Eze notching a stylish hat-trick against the club he could have joined during the summer after Leandro Trossard’s opener in a 4-1 rout.

Such an emphatic triumph sent Mikel Arteta’s dominant side six points clear at the Premier League summit, with next weekend’s opponents Chelsea now their closest challengers after their 2-0 win at promoted Burnley on Saturday was followed by Manchester City losing 2-1 against Newcastle at St James’ Park.

Arsenal’s fans, coaches and players alike all revelled in their derby day delight, with Gabriel taking a prominent role during the celebrations despite missing the game through injury.

The influential centre-back - arguably Arteta’s best player so far this season - suffered an adductor injury during Brazil’s friendly win over Senegal at the Emirates last weekend, initially ruled out for a period of “weeks” as Arsenal hope to get a clearer time frame following another scan scheduled for Wednesday.

Arteta wants to keep Gabriel close to the squad during his layoff so they can continue to benefit from his leadership, and that appeared to be the case on Sunday.

After the game, the defender took to Instagram to post a picture of himself wearing an Arsenal scarf and shirt that was back to front with Eze’s name showing, holding the midfielder’s man-of-the-match award and his own Premier League Player of the Month trophy for October.

Gabriel tagged Richarlison in the photo in a playful dig at his compatriot and Brazil international team-mate, who posted a similar image with his man-of-the-match award after Spurs beat Arsenal 1-0 in a pre-season friendly in Hong Kong back in July.

On that occasion, Gabriel hit back by responding with a picture of the three man-of-the-match awards he has previously received following games between Arsenal and Tottenham.

Richarlison scored Tottenham’s only goal of the game against Arsenal on Sunday, beating David Raya from some 40 yards out with an audacious lob 10 minutes after half-time to reduce the deficit to 3-1.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.