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Martin Keown has admitted he’s stunned at the fact “great talent” Gabriel Martinelli keeps being left on the Arsenal bench.

Martinelli, who earns £90,000-a-week (Spotrac), was once again an unused substitute last night.

The 19-year-old attacker watched from the bench Arsenal record an impressive 3-1 away win against Olympiacos in the Europa League.

It means that the Gunners have a healthy lead on aggregate ahead of next week’s second leg of the last-16 tie.

Pundit and ex-Arsenal centre-back Keown can’t work out why Martinelli is consistently overlooked by Arteta.

The Brazilian teenager marked his return from a long-term knee injury back in mid-December, and since then has mainly watched from the stands.

Apart from 13-minute cameo in February against Benfica, he’s not featured since 30 January in the Premier League against Manchester United.

“One player we’ve not mentioned is Martinelli. If I’m his family, I’m really disappointed for him. He’s not getting any football and needs to because he’s a great talent,” Sutton told BT Sport 2 (10:15pm, 11 March).

“Again, I don’t know why. That needs explaining. If he’s fit enough to sit on the bench, he must be fit enough again to get on.”

TBR’s View:

Martinelli is a highly-rated youngster that has already given a glimpse into his ability at the Emirates Stadium, scoring 10 goals in just 34 senior appearances.

The versatile forward, who can play as a central striker or a left-winger, missed a big chunk of football due to a knee problem.

He was eased back into things by Arteta, but now he’s surely being left out just for tactical reasons.

It seems bizarre that the South American attacker can’t get any minutes considering the manager has rotated his forward line at times due to the hectic fixture schedule.