Gabriel Martinelli told Mikel Arteta in no uncertain terms that he was ready to make amends for his fatal midweek penalty miss - even after a sleepless night.
The Brazilian agonisingly saw his spot-kick saved as Arsenal crashed out of the Europa League at home to Sporting Lisbon via tense shootout in their round of 16 second leg. But Martinelli, 21, wanted to put things right as soon as possible, telling his boss to select him for Sunday's Premier League clash with Crystal Palace.
Arteta trusted the forward and was rewarded with an instrumental performance, as Arsenal ran out 4-1 winners at the Emirates to forge an eight-point gap between them and title rivals Manchester City. Martinelli took less than half an hour to break the deadlock, vindicating his manager's faith after a conversation behind closed doors on Saturday.
