Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli picked up a knock on international duty with Brazil, and there has been no official update from the club on his status ahead of this weekend.
The forward only played 10 minutes in Brazil’s 2-1 win against Peru, but reported the knock to the team doctors a day after the game. He was then sidelined for the next game against Peru which Brazil won 4-0.
At that time, the injury was received badly by Arsenal fans after Bukayo Saka also picked up an injury on international duty with England.
Gabriel Martinelli will undergo late fitness test – Charles Watts
With the international break over, Martinelli is expected to return to London with his teammate Gabriel Magalhaes.
Journalist Charles Watts has provided the latest update from within the club, saying Arsenal are confident the injury is not a serious one:
“He’ll be arriving at London Colney today, and Arsenal medical staff will finally be able to get right there with Gabriel Martinelli, and then find out exactly what is going on. So Mikel is definitely going to have a decision to make on Martinelli, 100%, does he risk him if he’s fine? And certainly from the conversations that I’ve had, Arsenal don’t believe there’s anything serious with Gabriel Martinelli.”
“They’re not expecting him to return home and suddenly, like, oh my god, this is, you know, you’re going to be out for weeks or something like that. So they were quite comfortable with him staying with Brazil and then coming back as planned with Gabriel after the game. So there’s no panic stations from Arsenal, but they’re certainly going to have to assess him and work out whether it’s worth risking him for this game against Bournemouth.”
Missing both Saka and Martinelli for a few games will be difficult, but Arsenal have shown this season that they can get results the hard way.
Injury threatens Brazilian’s form
Martinelli had three direct goal involvements in his last three games before the international break. After netting his first goal of the campaign, the forward was full of confidence for the fixtures after the international break, before he picked up an injury.
“I’m really happy, really confident now and just trying to play my football again,”
“[Arteta said] go there, control the game and try to take the game to the final third and create chances for us.
“It was a tough one, we showed our qualities. I think we did really well, we won the game so really happy. We have the international now we have to go there and try to stay fit and think about the upcoming games. We’re ready and can’t wait until the Premier League is back again.”
