Arsenal Pre-Season Tour: Brazilian Duo Set for Return Against Real Betis

Arsenal’s pre-season tour is about to get a jolt of Brazilian electricity.

After an enforced breather following their World Cup exertions, Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli are primed to step back into Mikel Arteta’s plans when Arsenal face Real Betis at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday night. The pair missed the behind-closed-doors win over MK Dons on July 25 and watched from the sidelines as their team-mates swept aside Girona, but their wait for minutes should now be over.

They rejoined the squad in Spain last week, trained with the group, yet never even made the bench against Girona. That felt like Arteta drawing a clear line: recovery first, rhythm later. Now, with a handful of sessions in their legs, the stage is set.

Arteta’s managed minutes

Arteta has already shown his hand with how he intends to handle his senior core this summer. Against Girona, he treated Piero Hincapie, Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres almost like porcelain, giving each of them just 30 minutes before hooking them. It was calculated, not cautious for the sake of it. Expect something similar with Gabriel and Martinelli in Dublin: sharpness over stamina, controlled exposure rather than a full-blooded return.

Ben White’s situation underlines that approach. The defender banked a valuable 60 minutes on his comeback from a knee injury, his first outing in three months, and came through it cleanly. That alone might be enough to earn him a breather against Betis, with Arteta unlikely to gamble so soon after a lay-off. If he does sit out, youngster Marli Salmon suddenly becomes a very real option at right-back, especially with Jurrien Timber doubtful.

Midfield in the hands of youth

There will be no grand captain’s return just yet. Martin Odegaard is due back at the club this week after his post-World Cup holiday, but with barely any training behind him, his involvement against Betis is highly unlikely. That opens the door again for Ethan Nwaneri, who continues to edge himself closer to the senior picture.

Nwaneri should get another chance to run the midfield, and this time the responsibility could feel even heavier. With Martin Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino all still on their breaks, Arteta’s options in the engine room are stripped back. The club have already seen a bid for Bruno Guimaraes knocked back by Newcastle, so there is no new marquee presence to lean on either.

Into that gap step Havertz and Myles Lewis-Skelly. Havertz, carefully rationed against Girona, is likely to line up alongside Nwaneri, offering experience and height between the lines. Lewis-Skelly brings legs, energy and a willingness to carry the ball in tight spaces. It is a makeshift trio on paper, but one that suits the experimental nature of pre-season and gives Arteta another long look at his emerging talents.

Left flank reshuffle

Up front, the Girona win threw up its own storylines. Max Dowman and Christos Tzolis both found the net in the 4-1 victory, staking early claims for minutes and attention. Tzolis, a summer signing, gave Arteta something to think about with his contribution from the left.

But this is Martinelli’s territory.

With the Brazilian now ready to be involved, Tzolis may have to step aside, at least from the start, to allow Martinelli to reclaim his favoured left-wing berth. A short, sharp outing for the number 11 feels likely: enough time to reintroduce his direct running and penalty-box threat, not enough to overload him so soon after his break.

On the other side of the pitch, Gabriel’s return in defence would restore some of the familiar steel that underpinned Arsenal’s last campaign. His presence, even for a half, would help knit together a back line that is still juggling fitness, form and opportunity.

So Arsenal move on to Dublin with a squad in flux: senior stars easing back, youngsters grabbing minutes, transfer targets out of reach for now. The Betis friendly will not define their season, but it will ask an important question: how quickly can this evolving group rediscover its edge?