Gabriel's goal tally shows how central set pieces have become to Arsenal
Gabriel Magalhaes has scored 21 Premier League goals since 2020-21, more than any other defender in that span, and sits joint-10th on the competition's all-time list for centre-backs.
Gabriel Magalhaes has scored 21 Premier League goals since making his Arsenal debut in 2020-21, more than any other defender across that period, according to Planet Football. That run of finishing places him joint-10th on the all-time list of highest-scoring centre-backs in the competition's history, level with Robert Huth and Craig Dawson.
The list is topped by John Terry on 41 goals, a tally Planet Football describes as being out of reach even for Gabriel. Ian Marshall sits second with 33, though part of his career was spent as a forward rather than a centre-back. Virgil van Dijk (31), Gary Cahill (28) and William Gallas (25) complete the top five.
Gabriel is one goal shy of matching Laurent Koscielny's total of 22 and four short of Joleon Lescott's 24, which would be enough to break into the top five outright. Fabian Schar, Van Dijk, Michael Keane, Kurt Zouma, John Stones, Ben Mee and Lewis Dunk have also reached double figures since Gabriel's debut, but none have matched his output.
Why a centre-back keeps finding the net
A defender scoring 21 top-flight goals in six seasons is not simply a product of luck in the six-yard box. It reflects how often a team can manufacture quality chances for its centre-backs from dead-ball situations, and how well-drilled the runs and blocking movements around the penalty area are when the ball is delivered.
Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino, speaking to BBC Match of the Day after Gabriel's goal against Newcastle in September 2025, framed the Brazilian's repeated set-piece success as psychological as well as tactical. "That shows a lot and not only set-pieces strategy but also mentality," Merino said. He added that other sides lose belief after several unconverted corners, while Arsenal keep returning to the same approach: "it's a matter of keep doing what we do, doing it at the highest level and in the end the last one, last second, we scored and I'm really happy."
That distinction matters. A corner routine only works repeatedly if the team trusts the process enough to run it the same way on the seventh attempt as the first, rather than abandoning it after early misses. Merino's comment suggests Arsenal treat set pieces as a repeatable system rather than a gamble, which is consistent with a centre-back accumulating goals across multiple seasons rather than in a single purple patch.
Where Gabriel sits in the longer history of scoring defenders
The names above Gabriel on the all-time list tell their own story about how scoring centre-backs have been used. Terry's total was built over a much longer Chelsea career, while Van Dijk and Cahill both combined aerial dominance with longevity at clubs that generated high volumes of set-piece opportunities. Gallas and Lescott, further down the list, were similarly durable rather than short-term spikes.
Gabriel's case is notable for the pace of his accumulation rather than the length of his career so far. Reaching 21 goals since a 2020-21 debut means he has outscored every other defender in the league across that specific window, even though several of the players above him on the all-time list, such as Terry, Marshall and Gallas, built their totals over considerably more top-flight seasons.
What comes next for Gabriel's tally
Planet Football's projection is that Gabriel could retire as the second-highest-scoring centre-back in Premier League history if he stays in the competition, overtaking the likes of Van Dijk, Cahill and Gallas but not Terry. That would require him to move past Koscielny, Lescott and ultimately into the mid-twenties and beyond, a trajectory his current scoring rate makes plausible without being certain.
For now, the more immediate markers are closer: one goal to draw level with Koscielny, four to break into the top five outright. Given how often Arsenal have turned to him at set pieces, and the mentality Merino described around repeating the same routines regardless of earlier misses, both targets look within reach before the season is out.