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| Gabriel during Arsenal's 5-1 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich |
GABRIEL, prior to his move to north London, has questioned why Chelsea are not Arsenal's main rivals.
The Brazilian centre-back joined the Gunners from Villareal in January, but admits he thought the Blues were Arsenal's arch nemesis - not Tottenham - because they usually compete for the title.
Gabriel is yet to feature in a north London derby but understands the importance of winning these type of high stakes matches.
"Trying to win those matches is very difficult and I think the main rival is Tottenham,” he told Arsenal TV, when asked about derby matches.
"People talk about it a lot here and I was told about it when I first arrived. I always thought that the main rival was Chelsea, but my team-mates told me that Tottenham is the main rival.
"That makes the derby a lot harder."
The 24-year-old has made nine appearances for Arsenal so far this season and could come into deal with Spurs' attacking pace.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger believes Tottenham's new 61,000-seater stadium will provide them with their 'biggest challenge'.
"It is the biggest challenge we face. It will be purely down to the technical quality of work," he told Sky Sports.
"On a financial level, we always had level power because when we had 37,000, 38,000 seats [at Highbury] we were level.
"After we moved into the new stadium we had less financial resources than them because we had to pay our debts back. That was always the case.
"Now, maybe in the last two or three years we are in a stronger financial situation, but that will not last because they build a new stadium as well."
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