Declan Rice sends two-word message to Gabriel Magalhaes on Instagram after his stunning performance vs Tottenham

Today at 01:55 AM

Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-1 in the North London Derby, and Gabriel Magalhaes won the Player of the Match award for his performance.

The Gunners were dominant from the first kick of the derby. They were all over Tottenham and the visitors barely got out of their half in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Heung-min Son gave Spurs an undeserved lead, but that was cancelled out just 15 minutes later. Gabriel got his head on a corner from Declan Rice, and that struck Dominic Solanke before finding the back of the net.

Leandro Trossard then scored the winner at the end of the first half, but it was Gabriel who was arguably the best player on the pitch.

Declan Rice and Ian Wright send messages to Gabriel Magalhaes after Arsenal beat Tottenham

Gabriel just loves playing against Tottenham.

The Brazilian has won the Player of the Match award on three occasions in North London Derbies, the latest of which came on Wednesday night.

The 27-year-old’s role in Arsenal’s equaliser was massive, but that should not take anything away from his performance at the back.

Gabriel, along with William Saliba, was dominant against Solanke and gave the Tottenham striker next to nothing. He seemed helpless at times.

Along with that, Gabriel also helped the ‘unbelievable’ young Myles Lewis-Skelly at left-back whenever he had to, and that elevated the teenager’s performance as well.

After the game, Gabriel took to Instagram to celebrate the win and his Player of the Match award.

Rice replied: “Love you!”

Jurrien Timber said “3x”, hailing the Brazilian’s third Player of the Match award against Spurs.

Gabriel’s stats in the North London Derby

Gabriel doesn’t often get the credit he deserves at Arsenal.

The Brazil international may not be as easy on the eye as Saliba, but he is just as good a defender as the Frenchman and is even better than him in the opposite box.

Against Tottenham on Wednesday, Gabriel had 56 touches of the ball and completed 39 of his 44 attempted passes, maintaining a very healthy 89 per cent passing accuracy.

He also made three clearances, three blocks, an interception and a tackle, and wasn’t dribbled past a single time in the entire game.

Gabriel won all of his aerial duels too (Sofascore), which is very impressive considering that Solanke is fantastic in the air as well.

It’s not often that a centre-back wins the Player of the Match award after a dominant performance by the winning side, but Gabriel completely deserves it.