Gabriel Martinelli celebrates scoring for Arsenal at Crystal Palace.
Gabriel Martinelli and Ian Wright shared a heartwarming moment at the end of Arsenal's 5-1 win away to Crystal Palace with the forward revealing he received a message of support from the Gunners legend following a difficult run of performances.
Brazilian Martinelli, 23, found the net in a convincing win at Selhurst Park for Mikel Arteta ’s men having gone almost a month without scoring.
But at the end of a week that began with Thierry Henry questioning Arsenal’s overreliance on right winger Bukayo Saka, Martinelli boosted his confidence by scoring in a first Premier League win in three games.
And speaking to Wright on the Premier League’s world television feed after the game, Martinelli said: “You have played the game, you know how tough it is to be on this side, and I'd like to say thank you for the message that you sent me the other day. It means a lot to me.
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“As I said, this is really good to score and win the game and it's an honour as I said to receive like that, the one you sent me. So again, thank you, it means a lot to me.”
The win moved Arsenal three points behind leaders Liverpool, although with two additional games played before Sunday’s fixtures, but it also came at a cost for Arteta because Saka limped off with a hamstring injury midway through the first half.
"He felt something in his hamstring, he couldn't continue," said Arteta. "He will have to be assessed. [I'm] pretty worried about that one."
"It's difficult [to say how long he will be absent]. They have tested him but it's very difficult to say how bad it is."
Bukayo Saka was injured in the first half against Crystal Palace.
Raheem Sterling had also missed out on the game because of an injury on Friday. "We don't know for how long," Arteta said of the former Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City forward, who has hardly featured since moving to north London in the summer.
"To lose two players in 24 hours is not good. Unfortunately, with the amount of games that we are playing and with this schedule, it doesn't surprise me. But the team will react to that."
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