Arsenal Provide Gabriel Martinelli Injury Update

Mikel Arteta has shed some light on Gabriel Martinelli’s recent Arsenal setback.

It’s a sight that has been seen twice in the past few weeks. Twice too many. Having battled his way back from a long-term injury, Gabriel Martinelli was in tears for Arsenal against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat.

Despite writhing in pain, the Brazilian got back to his feet and played on for a few more minutes before eventually hobbling off. Slight relief.

Then in the warm-up prior to Newcastle visiting the Emirates, he twisted his ankle and crumbled to a heap on the floor. Again there were tears as he cut a distraught figure, and he was withdrawn from the starting lineup as a precaution.

As worrying as the waterworks are, they’re more of an indication of Martinelli’s desperation to play football as opposed to evidence of pain. It was, however, revealed that he had been in real discomfort following the problem, with an update provided by Mikel Arteta during his Crystal Palace pre-match press conference.

"“We don’t know how bad he is. He’s getting a scan this morning. We didn’t look after the game because he was in a lot of pain but yesterday he tested it a little bit better, so let’s hope,” he told the official Arsenal website.“We have a scan today so let’s hope it’s not as serious and we can have Gabi back really soon. We will know more tomorrow, certainly. We’re going to scan him today, hopefully it’s not that bad and it doesn’t knock Gabi back but I was gutted for him because he was in pain and he was gutted.”"

These setbacks are unfortunate bumps on the road to recovery for the 19-year-old, yet can be categorised up as pure rotten luck. All three of the problems he’s sustained at Arsenal have been different injuries, whether contact-related or otherwise.

It’s too soon and too dangerous to hypothesise whether he’ll be an injury prone forward. What we can say is that his enthusiasm and relentless energy will always make him a prime target for defenders.

Such pace and technique make him a nightmare to disarm, and the longer he plays in this division the more battle hardened he’ll continue to grow.

Arteta said Gabi could be back ‘really soon’, which would point towards a return against Newcastle.