Fewer touches than Ramsdale: Arsenal star who lost 85% duels had a nightmare vs Wolves - opinion

Gabriel Martinelli endured an absolute nightmare for Arsenal as they defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League and his sending off only told half of the story.

The Gunners held out for their first win of 2022 after the Brazilian was sent off in the 69th minute in an unusual and quickfire fashion. He was shown two bookings within seconds – one for blocking a throw-in and one for a late foul on Chiquinho.

Mikel Arteta would’ve been glad that his side took an early lead after centre-back Gabriel poked home new captain Alexandre Lacazette’s flick-on in the 25th minute.

Arsenal’s first win in six outings moves them into fifth place, just one point outside of the top four, with two games in hand.

Martinelli’s red card was the 12th of the Spaniard’s reign at the Emirates Stadium and fourth of the year so far, and for once, it wasn’t Granit Xhaka, though he was still booked, of course.

The 20-year-old shoved Daniel Podence as he was trying to take a throw-in and referee Michael Oliver let play continue and the Arsenal gem ran down the Wolves substitute and fouled him.

Oliver immediately showed him two yellow cards and he was sent off.

But truth be told, Martinelli was struggling throughout the entire match, so even if he remained on the pitch, he would’ve struggled to contribute – if Arteta wasn’t planning to hook him at some point.

The £34m-rated dynamo was awfully lightweight and weak, so there’s some irony in the fact that he was booked for actually putting in a challenge as he won only two of his 13 duels (15%).

He also lost possession a whopping 16 times from only 34 touches, meaning he gave away the ball once every 2.1 times he had it, as per SofaScore, who also graded him as the worst player on the pitch (5.3