Arsenal receive huge injury boost for Manchester United clash

Gabriel Martinelli has travelled with the Arsenal squad to Manchester ahead of their upcoming Premier League clash at Old Trafford.

The Gunners are aiming to become the first team in Premier League history to win five consecutive games against Man Utd. They're also searching for back-to-back wins at the Theatre of Dreams after claiming a 1-0 win during the title run-in last season.

The visitors are heavy favourites with United struggling way down in 15th despite the mid-season appointment of Ruben Amorim. Much of their good work under the Portuguese coach has arrived on the big occasion, however, and they knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup back in January.

The Gunners remain striker-less for Sunday's game, but Martinelli's return to fitness is a big boost for an attack which burst into life on Tuesday night amid a record-breaking victory.

Gabriel Martinelli travels with the Arsenal squad to Manchester

Martinelli has been out of action due to a hamstring injury sustained during the second leg of Arsenal's Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Newcastle at the start of February. The winger was initially expected to be out of action for a month with surgery not required, and Arteta suggested ten days ago that Martinell's return wasn't exactly imminent.

The boss was asked whether he expected Martinelli and Bukayo Saka to make their respective comebacks after the March international break, to which he replied: "I think so but again let’s see how they evolve in the next few weeks to make the right steps and then after that, they’ve been out for a long, long time, so we’re going to have to integrate them as well gradually.

"They are evolving well but they’re still a bit far," he added.

"We have a meeting tomorrow to discuss where they are, especially Gabi, who probably has a chance before Bukayo to come in, but how soon that is, we’ll have to see how it evolves in the next week or 10 days."

Martinelli's return this weekend certainly comes as a surprise given that there was little talk of the winger's comeback in the build-up to Sunday's game. Various images have emerged of the Gunners' travelling squad, and the winger can be clearly seen in one clip speaking to Jorginho. He's there. Whether he earns minutes is another story, but the fact he's travelled suggests we'll see him before the March break.

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