Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli was forced off in the first half of their Carabao Cup semi final loss against Newcastle through injury and will now undergo an MRI scan
Gabriel Martinelli will undergo an MRI scan on Thursday after injuring his hamstring against Newcastle, Mikel Arteta has confirmed.
Arsenal headed into Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final behind on aggregate and were 1-0 down on the night when Martinelli appeared to go down holding his hamstring. The Brazilian was subsequently replaced and trudged off the pitch gingerly.
The Gunners went on to lose 4-0 on aggregate to dent their hopes of lifting a trophy this season – and Arteta hinted things could even get worse for Arsenal in the aftermath of said defeat depending on the extent of the damage suffered by Martinelli.
Speaking post-match, Arteta said: “He felt something, I think it was his hamstring and he wasn’t comfortable to continue.
“So we will have to have any MRI scan tomorrow to see the extent of the injury.”
Losing Martinelli for a period of time would be another significant blow for Arsenal, who are already without the services of their talisman, Bukayo Saka. Gabriel Jesus is also out for the rest of the season after suffering an ACL injury last month.
The Gunners did not add to their forward options in January despite speculation that they would after losing Saka and Jesus to injury. They did, however, submit a bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins that was promptly rejected by their Premier League rivals.
Join the debate! What did you make of Arsenal’s performance against Newcastle? Let us know here
Goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon in either half were enough to condemn Arsenal to defeat. They now have a 10 day gap before their next match against Leicester City and will fly to Dubai for a warm weather training camp before returning to action later this month.
“We need to swallow this one, it’s a tough one,” Arteta admitted. “We had a lot of expectations, we knew the difficulty of the task because of the result that we brought from London but there’s nothing we can do right now.
“What we could do is, we were on the pitch a few minutes ago, now we have to look forward. First of all I think this is going to be a painful one and while we are in Dubai, recharge and then go again because we have still a lot to play.”
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Learn more
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.