Arsenal 'Invincible' Gilberto Silva: I Was Ready to Play After Coquelin Injury

Arsenal's squad could scarcely be described as "invincible" these days, but one of the squad members who earned that tag joked that he was ready to come out of retirement to help the side after Francis Coquelin went down injured.

Gilberto Silva, who was a part of Arsene Wenger's unbeaten Premier League champions in 2003/04, met with the Frenchman after watching the side's 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb last month.

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Per Amy Lawrence of the Guardian (h/t Metro), the Brazilian midfielder said: "I told him I was ready."

Gilberto made over 200 appearances for the Gunners before leaving north London for Panathinaikos in 2008.

He went on to speak of Coquelin's importance to the side's domestic ambitions:

"

Since I left if I am not wrong Arsenal didn’t have a player to fill that role until him. They had some other players in that position like Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini, and before that Cesc Fabregas. But not this type of player, the guy who holds the piano to let the others play. I hope he recovers well and in time to help Arsenal this season. They will need him for sure.

"

[Guardian, h/t Metro]