But Riccardo Calafiori suffered an injury in the warm-up and was unable to start, while Ben White was forced off in the second half. Captain Martin Odegaard did not feature at all after sustaining a knock in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Brentford on Thursday. Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli scores their second goal past Wigan Athletic's Sam Tickle. However, on Sunday he provided assists for Arsenal’s first two goals and Arteta admitted: “Those players need those moments, and especially when we talk about the creative players, they need to feel that they are producing those moments. It was probably relief at the end that the players showed what they were about in the second half.”

Source: Irish Independent February 16, 2026 13:44 UTC