Gabriel taunted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 on Sunday by mimicking a pre-game advert recorded by the striker and saying “nothing personal, London is red.”
Aubameyang, who left Arsenal to join Barcelona in last season’s winter transfer window before moving to Chelsea this summer, took part in a promotional video for BT Sport in which he said: “Arsenal, nothing personal. I’m back, I’m blue, I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Gabriel scored the only goal as Arsenal won at Stamford Bridge and the Brazil centre-back wasted no time in making a point to his former teammate on Twitter.
Aubameyang’s departure from Arsenal came in acrimonious circumstances following a breakdown in relations with manager Mikel Arteta.
Arteta reacted to Arsenal’s performance by admitting his side can now be considered Premier League title contenders but the Spaniard said Manchester City are still the benchmark.
City needed a stoppage-time penalty from substitute Erling Haaland to beat Fulham 2-1 on Saturday and are one point behind as they chase their fifth title in six seasons.
Arteta, who worked under Pep Guardiola as a coach at City before taking charge of Arsenal in 2019, said: “We are [in contention] today. But in football, today and tomorrow is very different. So let’s enjoy tonight.
“Do something: just look at the last six years, what Manchester City have done. With the best manager in the world, the best team in the world.
“They have shown it consistently in every single competition. We have to be very, very respectful of that.
“We are getting much better as a team and competing much better. We are getting really good results right now, but this is a long, long [season].”
Arsenal are now 13 points ahead of Chelsea and will be top of the table at Christmas if they win their final game before the World Cup break, away at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
