Gabriel Martinelli has warned his Arsenal teammates about the threat of a Chelsea rival ahead of the Premier League derby at Stamford Bridge.
Premier League leaders Arsenal will look to continue their impressive title charge on Sunday when they make the short trip to west London to face Chelsea.
Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge with a four-point cushion at the top of the table and a game in hand over second-placed Manchester City, who scored an injury-time winner to beat Leeds United on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta’s side are the clear favourites to win the title after losing just one of their first 12 games this season, conceding only six goals in the process.
Arsenal finished as Premier League runners-up for three seasons in a row but a productive summer transfer window appears to have taken the Gunners to another level.
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Their next opponents, London rivals Chelsea, are also in fine form, winning five of their last six games and thumping Barcelona in the Champions League during the week.
Chelsea’s teenage sensation Estevao Willian continued his stunning rise with a superb goal against Barca and Martinelli has heaped praise on his compatriot ahead of Sunday’s derby.
Estevao has quickly established himself as one of the best young players in world football since his £29m summer move from Palmeiras, scoring nine goals in his last 13 games in all competitions.
‘Estevao is a nice boy, his family are as well, everyone’s so humble,’ Martinelli told the Evening Standard. ‘They deserve everything that they are doing here.
‘The boy is so good as well, everyone in the national team loves him as well. He deserves everything that he’s doing – and I just hope he’s not on his day on Sunday!
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‘In the national team we had some talks, not just me and him, but everyone.
‘So we knew before he came how good he is and it’s not a surprise for us because we knew him from Brazil. He deserves everything, so yeah, fair play to him.’
Estevao was compared to Brazil legend Neymar ahead of his move to Chelsea and has certainly lived up to the hype.
His Chelsea teammate Wesley Fofana has been impressed by his impact, insisting he can ‘do everything’.
‘He can dribble, he can score, he can pass, he can do everything,’ Fofana told Stadium Astro. ‘And he’s very young, but yeah, he’s amazing.
‘He has amazing talent and uh, he showed the world yesterday the quality, but he can show more.
‘We don’t want to put him under too much pressure because he’s very young.
‘He just come from Brazil, and yeah, we need to protect him give him some time and yeah just protect him and help him to improve a lot. This is the job of the team.’
While Arsenal fans will need to wary of Estevao, they will also have one eye on Moises Caicedo, arguably the best defensive midfielder in the world.
Arsenal battled Chelsea in the race to sign Caicedo from Brighton, having multiple bids rejected by their Premier League rivals.
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