ARSENAL: MARTINELLI BAGS BEST PLAYER AWARD

Brazil attacker Gabriel Martinellihas won the Player of the Month Award for January 2022 at Premier League side Arsenal. He was confirmed as the recipient of the award on Friday thus making it two in a row after he won the award in the month of December.

The Brazil national team invitee won the December Player of the Month Award for December 2021 at Arsenal after netting three times during the month under review. He scored the opening goal during the 2-0 home win over fellow top-four chasers West Ham United before adding two goals during the 4-1 away win over a depleted Leeds United team.

Brazil player Martinelli didn’t score any goal for Arsenal last month but still managed to win the Player of the Month. As a matter of fact, the Gunners registered a solitary goal in the month of January and that was the Bukayo Saka strike against Manchester City in the league on the first day of the month. Saka gave Arsenal the lead at home before the advantage was controversially erased by Manchester City thanks in part to the penalty awarded by centre referee Stuart Atwell and scored by Algerian star RiyadMahrez. Arsenal finished the game with ten men due to the red card to Gabriel Magalhaes and they would go on to lose the game in added time courtesy the close-range finish from Spanish defensive midfielder Rodri Hernandez.

Martinelli didn’t score a single goal for the Gunners, but his performance during the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final tie with Merseyside team Liverpool drew the praise of the opposition manager. After the game which ended in a 2-0 away win for his team and a 2-0 aggregate win, Liverpool manager JurgenKlopp praised the quality shown by the Brazilian star.