Gabriel Martinelli was not involved in the Champions League in midweek (Picture: Getty Images)
Gabriel Martinelli is fit and available to play for Arsenal against Brighton on Sunday after recovering from illness, confirms manager Mikel Arteta.
The Brazilian started in the last Premier League outing at Aston Villa last weekend but was not involved in the Champions League trip to PSV in midweek,
It was not a major concern as Arteta made a number of changes to his first team with his team already qualified for the knockout stages, and Martinelli is set for an immediate return to action.
The Gunners host Brighton on Sunday and Martinelli will be involved, although Mohamed Elneny will not after picking up a minor hamstring problem at PSV.
‘Martinelli is feeling good,’ Arteta told a press conference on Friday. Asked whether he is in contention for Sunday, he added: ‘Yeah.
‘We have no other news apart from Mo. Mo had to be subbed because he felt something in his hamstring. We did a scan and it doesn’t look too serious, so he’s going to be with us very soon, which is good news as well.’
Arsenal will still be without a number of longer term injury absentees, with Fabio Vieira, Takehiro Tomiysasu, Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber all still out.
Mikel Arteta is looking to keep pace with league-leaders Liverpool this weekend (Picture: Getty Images)
The Gunners lost 1-0 at Aston Villa last weekend, but Arteta sounds unfazed as he was happy with his team’s performance and feels they have shown in recent times that they are very good at bouncing back from defeats.
‘We try to play our best; we love winning and the team is desperate to do what it takes,’ he said.
‘We showed that against Aston Villa; in my opinion we were the better team and should have won the game. We will try again against Brighton.’
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The forward has been struggling with illness.