Arsenal bowed out of the Europa League after a shock defeat against Olympiacos at the Emirates.
The Brazilian teenager has been a regular in the competition since the start of the season but Nicolas Pepe was preferred by Gunners boss Arteta.
Arsenal went behind on the night early in the second half, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored what everyone thought was the winner in the 113th minute.
Careless defending by Arteta’s men gave Olympiacos one final chance in the 119th minute and the Greek champions took it and knocked the Gunners out of the competition.
Keown, like any other Arsenal fan, was frustrated with the result and questioned Arteta for not bringing on Martinelli sooner than he did.
He said: “Martinelli came on and did exceptionally well. Why wasn’t he on earlier in the match? They left it too late almost. It was obvious Martinelli had to come on, we were that close to Arteta I was tempted to go over and say put Martinelli on.”
The Brazilian did have an impact when he came on and was involved in Aubameyang’s brilliant goal. However, Arteta had already made two substitutions before the end of regular time and, with most of the players playing their fourth game in 11 days, the risk of a potential injury was high.
Martinelli could well have made the difference early in the game had he come on but Arsenal, in general, were too slow on the night and Olympiacos deserved to win.
Arsenal’s Champions League hopes for next season hang by a very thin thread now. The Gunners are seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and it would take an extraordinary run to overtake them with just 11 games left in the league.
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