What a performance Gabriel Martinelli posted for Arsenal against Newcastle United today.
Mikel Arteta rarely starts the Brazilian teenager, but he made Arsenal’s XI at St James’s Park this afternoon and Martinelli vindicated his coach in a big way.
During the first half, Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy couldn’t live with the tricky and pacey 19-year-old, who constantly tormented him down the Gunners’ left-hand side of attack.
Later in the half, Martinelli, a £6 million signing in 2019, added insult to injury with a scandalous nutmeg that only reinforced the fact that Murphy couldn’t deal with the Arsenal attacker.
He looked a bit quieter for much spells of the second half, but Martinelli then delivered an inch-perfect cross which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tapped home to make it 2-0.
Here’s how Newcastle fans reacted to the Arsenal star’s performance:
The big question now is whether Arteta starts him against Villarreal on Thursday.
Arsenal are 90 minutes away from being dumped out of the Europa League at the semi-final stage after losing the first leg 2-1 in Spain last week.
Martinelli came off the bench on Thursday and made a difference and after his heroics today, the Spanish manager might not get away with keeping him out of the first XI again.
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