Arsenal take on title challengers and defending Premier League champions Manchester City on Sunday, 22nd September at the Etihad Stadium. Mikel Arteta faces his former employers as he hopes it will be third time lucky for his Gunners in usurping Pep Guardiola’s charges to the title, having ended the season second on the last couple of occasions.
In his bid to do so, Ian Wright has recommended that Arteta uses Leandro Trossard over Gabriel Martinelli, who has not been in the best run of form. The former Arsenal player cited Martinelli’s moment of selfishness from the Tottenham clash last weekend as a key reason as to why Trossard should get the nod over him at the Etihad. He said:
“This is why Gabby, again his mindset at the moment for me is one of, because [Leandro] Trossard might, because Trossard’s gonna play and he doesn’t know if he’s gonna play, he feels like he has to prove something. He’s playing with that, I need to get my chance, I need to take it so people can say, yeah, we can’t forget Gabby. Whereas he’s just got to do what he does in getting past people, get the ball across, we score the goal – everything settles down and then we may be able to create something else.
“Going back to that Gabby chance, what Gabby maybe should have squared to Saka, I just want, if that happens next week, I just want him to understand, it’s a long season, we’re four games in, you know what I mean? You’ll get your goals.”
Trossard in a better run of form than Martinelli
Indeed, Trossard has performed better than Martinelli so far in the season and should be Arteta’s go-to option during the trip to Manchester City. The Belgian forward is a better decision maker, which will prove crucial on Guardiola’s patch with Arsenal needing efficiency in front of goal. A moment of selfishness could prove too dear, like Martinelli’s against Spurs when he did not pass to Saka.
At the same time, one needs to sympathise with Martinelli as injuries have been unkind to the Brazilian and have derailed his progress significantly in recent years. The 23-year-old will understandably be frustrated at the start-stop minutes he has had to endure but this season will be the perfect opportunity for him to recover his form under Arteta.
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Arsenal are in for an extremely busy season, so their squad depth will be pushed to the limit. Besides the Premier League, they are going to participate in the Carabao Cup, Champions League and the FA Cup and therefore, it is rest assured that Martinelli will continue to have opportunities to find his feet once more even if he were to miss out on a starting berth against Man City.
It will be exciting to see who exactly Arteta chooses and the manager’s pick for the left flank on his team’s opening Champions League clash of the season against Atalanta on Thursday could be a hint at what he has in store for the Manchester City clash.
