Gabriel Martinelli forced off with injury as Arsenal rocked by another forward blow
Gabriel Martinelli forced off with injury as Arsenal rocked by another forward blow
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Things went from bad to worse for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal after Gabriel Martinelli was forced off against Newcastle with a hamstring injury. The Brazilian forward is one of the few attacking options Arteta has available with no new signings made in January and Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus sidelined. But he was forced off late in the first half of Wednesday night's Carabao Cup semi-final with Newcastle after injuring himself to leave Arsenal even lighter on numbers in the attacking department.
Ethan Nwaneri replaced Martinelli, who was able to trudge off the pitch on his own accord, with Arsenal 3-0 down on aggregate against the Magpies. Martinelli's injury comes just two days after the January transfer window shut, meaning Arsenal are now unable to add to their squad until the summer. The club decided against bolstering their squad in the winter window, though they did see a bid for Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins knocked back. They were linked with a number of strikers, including summer target Benjamin Sesko.
Arsenal headed into Wednesday night's match trailing 2-0 on aggregate after being beaten at The Emirates last month and it almost got worse after just four minutes. Alexander Isak steered a superb finish beyond David Raya after being slipped in on the right, but the Sweden star wasn't celebrating for long as his strike was ruled out for offside. Arsenal's reprieve was short-lived, though, as Jacob Murphy adapted superbly to tuck home the rebound after Isak had been denied by the woodwork to break the deadlock on the night in the 19th minute, leaving the Gunners with a mountain to climb.
And the game was put beyond them in the 52nd minute when Arsenal were caught out by Newcastle's high press to leave Anthony Gordon with the simple task of tucking the ball beyond David Raya from 10 yards to all but send the hosts through to Wembley. 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.
