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Football London
Football London
Sport
Bobby Vincent

Gabriel Martinelli continues to prove Jurgen Klopp right amid red-hot Arsenal form

The form of Gabriel Martinelli in recent weeks will be extremely pleasing to Arsenal supporters.

The 20-year-old forward scored his second and third goal in just two matches on Saturday evening as he put the Gunners into a commanding 2-0 lead against Leeds United at Elland Road.

Martinelli is really starting to show what so many Arsenal fans have been wanting to see since he was signed from Ituano back in the summer of 2019.

It has not been easy for the Brazilian forward by any means, with his short career so far at the Emirates Stadium being plagued by injury problems, but he finally looks to be coming into his own.

One man who never doubted the ability Martinelli has at his disposal is Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, who was full of praise for the Brazilian's talent back in October 2019 - when the Reds and the Gunners played out a 5-5 thriller at Anfield in the Carabao Cup.

Martinelli started on that evening and scored twice for the visitors on Merseyside, terrorising Liverpool's centre-back duo of Joe Gomez and Sepp van den Berg.

Speaking after the match, Klopp said this: "(Van den Berg) played an incredible game. That is really difficult to deal with these guys.

"Martinelli is pretty much the same age but he is a talent of the century, he is an incredible striker, so it is really difficult."

Alexandre Lacazette celebrates with Gabriel Martinelli as Arsenal go 1-0 up against Leeds United (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

They were some massive words from Klopp on Martinelli - but now, over two years on, the Arsenal attacker is well on his way to proving his talent has no ceiling, with his performances continuing to improve every week.

His first goal against Leeds was an example of a clinical finish, with the forward pouncing on a mistake at the back from the home side, with an emphatic strike into the top right-hand corner.

Meanwhile, his second was an example of his speed, determination and intelligence to make that run in the first place, before smartly putting the ball beyond Illan Meslier.

Speaking about Martinelli's performance after the match at Elland Road, Mikel Arteta was full of praise for the youngster.

He said: "We see the player every day and we know where the player has to be to appear in the right frame and sustain that level into the season. We started to use Gabi more and more when that was the case."

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