Ferdinand thinks Arteta will be losing patience with ‘rash’ Arsenal man who’s proving ‘very costly’

Rio Ferdinand thinks Mikel Arteta will be wondering if he can “rely” on Gabriel Magalhaes after his “rash” performance against West Ham.

The Gunners went 2-0 up within the first ten minutes against the Hammers on Sunday with Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard grabbing the goals.

But West Ham were handed a lifeline on 33 minutes when Gabriel brought Lucas Paqueta down inside the area with Said Benrahma converting the penalty.

And Jarrod Bowen made Arsenal pay for Bukayo Saka’s missed penalty as he scored the equaliser on 54 minutes .

The result was damaging for the Gunners’ title chances with their lead at the top of the table cut to four points with second-placed Manchester City having a game in hand on them.

And Ferdinand reckons Arteta will have been unhappy with Gabriel’s defending against West Ham with the Arsenal defender making “mad, wild decisions”.

“I thought they [Arsenal] let themselves down,” Ferdinand said on his Vibe With Five YouTube channel.

“They had the game in a stranglehold, they had West Ham where they wanted them, going into half time 2-0 up, you coast that game.

“But rash… and I’ve said this about Gabriel a few times. He’s rash, he makes mad, wild decisions.

“As a defender you’ve got to be calm. There’s no need for him to do what he did. It was a rush of blood, he needs to eradicate that, get that out of his game quick.

“As a manager you don’t want to see that. Because those types of things ruin the head too many times, it starts becoming part of their make-up, and you’re going, ‘hold on, can I rely on this guy?’.

“I think he’s had a fabulous season, Gabriel. But those types of decisions can be very costly, he’s in the run-in now. That will hurt, the way they dropped points.”

ESPN FC pundit Steve Nicol was in agreement with Ferdinand with the former Liverpool defender insisting it’s “not a shock” when Gabriel makes a mistake for Arsenal.

“Is that really a shock? Do we think Gabriel is the next Franz Beckenbauer? He’s not! He made a mistake and it’s not a shock he made a mistake.”