Gabriel Martinelli lives up to Joe Cole comparison with five-year Arsenal first

Gabriel Martinelli's impressive form continued with a brace in Arsenal's win at Leeds United on Saturday night.

The Brazilian scored two first-half goals as the Gunners put four past the Yorkshire side.

Mikel Arteta's side were thoroughly deserving winners and could've scored more such was their dominance.

Martinelli was central to that - and he became the first Arsenal star to score at least two goals and created five chances in a match since 2016.

Back then it was Alexis Sanchez who did so, with a hat-trick against West Ham United at the London Stadium.

Martinelli was compared to the Chilean, who was a sensation during his time at the Emirates, by Joe Cole following his recent exploits.

He said on BT Sport: "This lad is outstanding, Martinelli. I've always been a big fan of his. He reminds me of a young Aguero, who is busy, just like Alexis Sanchez."

Martinelli's productivity in the final third coupled with his work rate and energy are no doubt behind such comparisons.

The 20-year-old has been afforded more opportunities in part due to the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

He also started ahead of Emile Smith Rowe with Arteta seeing the fruits of introducing Martinelli gradually.

He said: "Well, we see the player every day and we know where the player has to be to be able to appear in the right frame, and then sustain that level into the season.

"We've started to use Gabi more and more when we thought that was the case. There's no point exposing a player even when there's a lot of opinions that it has to be done because it won't be beneficial for the player.

"And in the end we are here to protect the player and develop the players that we have in the best possible way. We judge every day with what we see and I'm really happy with him and the way he's performing."

The forward has played centrally but in recent games has been used out wide whilst Alexandre Lacazette takes up a central role.

Arteta has had to work with Martinelli to get the most from him but is happy with his progress.

"He's come a long, long way because his energy, his passion, his commitment, it doesn't get much better than that ever," added the Spaniard.

"But there are other aspects in the game that he's had to develop and maintain the ones that he's exceptional at, like today, because when he has chances he puts them away. Again, he's in the right direction."