Aston Villa’s Emi Martinez has messaged Gabriel Martinelli on Instagram following Arsenal’s dramatic victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Thursday night.
Arsenal moved one point behind fourth-placed Manchester United with a come-from-behind win over Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.
Nicolas Pepe came off the bench to equalise for the Gunners on 82 minutes, before a late own goal, forced by Alexandre Lacazette, secured what was a massive victory in North London.
Martinelli certainly played his role in the victory and Martinez – who joined Aston Villa in 2020 – has messaged the 20-year-old Brazilian sensation.
The Villans goalkeeper, who played alongside the youngster at the Emirates Stadium, simply responded: “Craque” in Martinelli’s post-match Instagram post.
That’s a Brazilian slang word
That’s a Brazilian slang word which essentially translates as ‘star player‘ – ans Martinelli certainly is one.
However, last night belonged to Pepe.
The Arsenal winger, who cost a club-record £72 million in 2019, hasn’t started a Premier League outing in over four months.
But Thursday night proved that the 26-year-old can be a game-changing force for the Emirates Stadium outfit and one that could well help them qualify for the Champions League.
Yes, Arsenal are still one point behind the Red Devils, but two games in hand makes Mikel Arteta’s outfit big favourites to get back into Europe’s elite competition and with personnel like Martinelli and Pepe coming to life, few would back against them.
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