Arsenal learn worrying extent of Gabriel Martinelli injury

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Arsenal learn worrying extent of Gabriel Martinelli injury

Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli is expected to miss the final two games of the season due to the injury he suffered on the receiving end of a reckless tackle from Brighton's Moises Caicedo.

Martinelli was forced off the pitch just 20 minutes into the eventual 3-0 defeat, a result which will all but certainly now see the Gunners miss out on the Premier League to Manchester City.

The Brazilian forward was wearing a protective boot when he left the Emirates Stadium and Mikel Arteta said afterwards that a scan would be necessary to assess the damage.

The results of that scan are now back, reported by The Athletic, to show ankle ligament damage. With the end of the season less than two weeks away on 28 May and Arsenal playing in no other competitions, even a minor injury at this stage is enough to signal a premature end.

Martinelli's injury is serious enough that he won't be available again this season, but not so serious that he is expected to miss any of pre-season, which is likely to start in early July.

Arsenal club doctor Gary O'Driscoll had initially suggested a return before the end of the season would be on the cards, but that now appears not to be the case.

Caicedo stopped short of apologising for the tackle that caused the damage but did express regret it happened in a social media post that appeared to suggest it was premeditated.

"If I could turn back time I wouldn't have made that bad tackle," he said.

Earlier in the game, Martinelli has dangerously jumped into Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma when challenging for the ball in the air, leaving the Japanese star in a heap on the ground. It wasn’t long after that Caicedo then cleaned him out from behind, with a television camera then capturing a subtle high-five between Caicedo and Mitoma as if to suggest 'job done'.