Mikel Arteta Hails Gabriel Martinelli Despite Injury

Mikel Arteta praised Gabriel Martinelli as his goal helped Arsenal take a momentous step in the evolution of his side after beating Man City.

Mikel Arteta also revealed that Gabriel Martinelli surprised him and the club medics by declaring himself fit despite a hamstring injury.

Martinelli stole the show even though he came on as a substitute and scored the winning goal against treble-winners Man City.

His goal was enough to give Arteta’s men all three points in the Sunday encounter.

Martinelli was a major doubt for Arsenal as they looked to break an 8 years deadlock against Manchester City in all competitions.

Though the Brazilian showed signs that he was not fit for the game due to a hamstring injury, Mikel Arteta revealed that the player insisted he was fine.

Mikel Arteta earlier revealed that the winger picked up an injury against Everton last month and just trained once with the squad since then.

However, after subbing off Leandro Trossard at half-time, the Brazilian made an instant impact and went on to score in the 86th minute to give Arsenal the win.

Speaking after the game, Arteta stated that “nobody expected him to be in the team”.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Mikel Arteta said, “The officials weren’t having it. I’m gonna be there, I’m gonna be there.

“Yesterday he turned up. He was in training. He said he was ready to go. Leo got injured and we needed him. I looked and he was dressed up and ready to go.”

Mikel Arteta also went on to add: “Martinelli made a huge effort to be in the game — as nobody believed he would there. The medical staff were trembling but he was there and he was excellent”.

“It sends a message to our team, to keep doing what we are doing and also… stay humble”.

“I don’t know if it was a barrier. Obviously it was something we needed to go through. To beat them we have to lose against them, we have to lose probably the way we lost at the Etihad [4-1 in April].”

“We lost in two different ways last season. The team showed a real maturity today: that comes from experiences. Sometimes you need that to become a better team.”

Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta did not want to comment on Michael Oliver’s failure to send off Mateo Kovacic in the first half for what appeared to be a second yellow card.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta however revealed that Bukayo Saka will be pulled out of England’s forthcoming games against Australia and Italy.

Speaking on Saka who picked up an injury against Lens in the Champions League, he said: “He’s not available to play football at the moment.”

William Saliba, who pocketed Erling Haaland on Sunday, has also pulled out of France’s squad for this international window to manage a toe problem.