Mikel Arteta has revealed Gabriel Martinelli was ‘in tears’ after sustaining a worrying injury in the warm-up ahead of Arsenal’s FA Cup tie on Saturday.
The holders beat Newcastle 2-0 but the mood in the Gunners camp was dampened by the striker’s fresh injury setback just weeks after he returned from a long lay-off.
Martinelli, 19, fell over awkwardly and rolled around in pain as he appeared to get his studs on his right boot locked into the ground.
The nature of the injury isn’t fully clear, however, it was decided Martinelli wouldn’t play any part in the match and revealed afterwards the signs aren’t looking good for his player.
Arteta told talkSPORT: “I don’t know but it’s not looking good. I was gutted because I saw the boy in tears just before the game.
“It’s an injury that he did himself, nothing special but he was in a lot of pain so I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
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Martinelli, who returned from a six-month absence in December, recently opened up on how his knee injury ‘broke’ him and made him ‘cry a lot’.
“I was about to receive the ball and felt a little pain on my knee,” he told the Daily Mail.
“Not enough for me to stop practising, but, while we were on the finishing session, I told them that I was in pain. They told me to rest and, if I felt the pain the next day, to let them know.
“When I woke up, I felt it but I was able to walk. I thought it was nothing at first, but it was a pain I’d never felt before. I went to the club for the examinations and they said it was not good and I would need surgery. It broke me. I cried a lot.”
The setback stunts the progress of the promising Martinelli, who has ten goals in 30 Arsenal appearances.
Reacting to the injury, Gunners legend Ian Wright said: “It’s a massive blow that Gabriel Martinelli has been injured.
“He gives Arsenal and Mikel Arteta that energy. To see him go down, it was really quite worrying.”
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