Arsenal star sends stern warning to team-mates ahead of Champions League campaign

Arsenal sensation Gabriel Martinelli has urged his team-mates to ‘prepare for the worst’ ahead of their return to the Champions League this season.

Mikel Arteta and his north London side finished last season only behind the Premier League champions Manchester City, thus making a return to the Champions League after seven-year wait.

The Gunners who last featured in the Champions League in the 2016-17 campaign are yet to taste the football’s elite European club competition’s glory in their club’s history, National Daily can confirm.

The north Londoners have been eliminated in the first knockout round the last seven times they have featured in the tournament – with their best result a runner-up finish in the 2005-06 season.

Martinelli has urged his team-mates to prepare for the worst ahead of their Champions League return

‘I think we need to prepare ourselves for the worst, we need to prepare ourselves for the best teams and the whole team is doing that,’ Martinelli said.

‘I think we are ready for a new challenge… It’s so important [our squad depth] because we have too many games in the season and it’s going to be tough again.

‘We are ready to go and it’s good to have so many options.’

Martinelli enjoyed a stellar season last term, registering 15 goals and five assists across 36 Premier League games for Mikel Arteta’s side.

Gunners legend Ray Parlour crowned Martinelli as Arsenal’s most improved player for the 2022-23 campaign.

‘He deserves recognition as he has been excellent off the left,’ he told Metro.co.uk. ‘He took his chance when Emile Smith Rowe got injured. He was a bit-part player really, but after getting his opportunity, he has really improved.’