‘It’s my fault’: Mikel Arteta says Arsenal forward ‘will get his chance’ to impress – originally posted on Sportslens.com
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said that Gabriel Martinelli needs to be ‘a little patient’ for playing time with the north London side.
The Brazilian suffered a long-term knee injury after the project restart last season and he only made his comeback in December.
He has since played only 374 minutes of first-team football for the Gunners and has managed just 13 minutes since the beginning of February.
The 19-year-old has been a regular unused substitute and when asked about his situation, Arteta acknowledged that he is partly to blame.
He added that the youngster has shown the right attitude in training and will get his chance to impress at some point in the season.
He told Football.London: “No if anything it’s my fault. He’s done everything perfect. His attitude cannot be any better. He needs to be a little bit patient. He will get his chance.”
Sportslens view:
Martinelli was a relatively unknown when he joined from Ituano in 2019 and impressed in his debut season with 10 goals and four assists from just 26 outings.
He has not been able to replicate the showing this term due to injuries and competition for places and has registered the solitary assist from nine matches.
Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka have impressed in the attack in recent months while Willian and Nicolas Pepe have also made good contributions.
Owing to this, Martinelli has not managed to get off the bench in the league since January, but he will be hoping for a change in fortunes in the coming weeks.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com