Major boost for Leeds United’s relegation rivals Nottingham Forest as Arsenal star ruled out of crunch clash

Leeds United’s Premier League relegation rivals Nottingham Forest will face Arsenal without star forward Gabriel Martinelli who has been ruled out for the club’s final two games of the season.

David Ornstein of The Athletic reports the Gunners player sustained ankle ligament damage during Sunday’s 3-0 home loss to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Fears the player could be facing a spell on the sidelines were raised when he was spotted wearing a protective boot around his ankle following a heavy challenge from Moisés Caicedo.

The Brighton midfielder later apologised for the tackle, as Martinelli was unable to continue. He said: “If I could turn back time I wouldn’t have made that bad tackle.”

The result all-but ended Arsenal’s hopes of beating Manchester City to the Premier League title, as they now head to the City Ground on Saturday evening.

Forest are three points ahead of Leeds and could move six ahead of Sam Allardyce’s side before the Whites play West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

After their loss to Brighton, Mikel Arteta refuted the suggestion his side had run out of steam ahead of the final two fixtures of the season.

He said: “No, I think we have the highest running stats in the league. So I don’t think that’s the case. Today, I think individually we were below par - to be gentle.”

Leeds will be hoping for a favour from the Gunners as they currently sit in the Premier League bottom three and may need to rely on sides around them dropping points to avoid the drop.