winger and when he joined the club in 2007, Gael Clichy was in
the peak of his powers after the mantle was passed on to
him following the acrimonious departure of Ashley Cole to
Chelsea. Clichy played all 38 Premier League games for Arsenal
that season and his consistent performances saw him earn a
place alongside Bacary Sagna, Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel
Adebayor in the 2008 PFA Team of the Year. Gibbs had to
make do with a loan switch to Norwich in the winter of
2008, where he notched up seven league appearances.
Arsenal's 2008/09 campaign was vital for Gibbs' education as
he featured heavily in the domestic competitions but got his
breakthrough when Clichy suffered an injury. With the
Frenchman out of action, Wenger exposed Gibbs to Premier
League and Champions League action, and the young
Englishman repaid his manager's faith with some consistent
performances till his ill-fated slip in the Champions League
semifinal against Manchester United, and Park Ji-Sung wasted
no time in punishing him for his error.
Arsenal also crashed out of the FA Cup semifinals to the
eventual winners, Chelsea, and it was another fruitless
campaign for Arsene Wenger and his men. With Clichy
suffering another injury in the 2009/10 campaign, Wenger
entrusted Gibbs to hold the fort but a metatarsal injury in the
Champions League game against SC Braga brought his season
to an abrupt end as he went under the knife to fix the issue.
Even though many fans, journos and pundits alike loved
watching Gibbs play and tipped him for great things, there
was a unanimous agreement that his countless injury
problems were denting his career. With the departure of
Clichy for the petro-greens of Manchester City, Wenger
confirmed that he wasn't going to invest for a new left back
because he trusted Gibbs' abilities and he named him as Clichy's
successor.
Following another trademark injury to Gibbs, Wenger fielded
the inexperienced Armand Traore against Manchester United
in Old Trafford in a game that turned out to be Wenger's
worst outing as Arsenal's manager. After his team was
mutilated by the Red Devils, Wenger delved into the market to
make some "panic buys" and life with Andre Santos began.
In the mysterious period where all Arsenal's fullbacks were
out injured, Gibbs made a return from his hernia operation and
he scored his first league goal in the 3-0 victory over Aston
Villa. Gibbs played a significant role in the final game of the
season against West Brom when he put his body in the line to
block a goal-bound Billy Jones shot.
Last season, Gibbs managed to stay fit for a considerable
chunk of the campaign, relegating Andre Santos to the bench.
The Brazilian's lack of play time took its toll on his
performances to the stage that he played very poorly in
almost every game he was selected. With Gibbs suffering
another thigh injury against Liverpool last winter, Arsenal
reacted quickly to secure Nacho Monreal's service from
cash-strapped Malaga while shipping out Andre Santos in a big
ribbon back to Brazil.
The Monreal – Gibbs competition last season was very
interesting as the manager rotated them to bring out the
best in both players. This season, Gibbs has also opened his
goalscoring account this season with his strike against
Fenerbahce and his stellar performances this season has
seen Monreal relegated to substitute appearances, but he
made his first start in the Capital One clash with West Brom.
His consistency and quality has been a major highlight this
season, and he has managed to balance his defensive and
attacking play superbly. According to WhoScored, here are
Gibbs' stats thus far this season.
