Arsenal: The best part of Gabriel Martinelli

Gabriel Martinelli made his full Arsenal debut in Tuesday night’s 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest. He scored two goals, but the best part of his performance had nothing to do with either of them.

The Carabao Cup — or whatever the names of the previous iterations of the competition are — has always presented a unique opportunity to clubs to bleed young players. At first, it was just the bigger teams who were focused on other positions, but as the influx of finance has exploded and league position has been greatly rewarded, clubs lower down the football pyramid have increasingly turned to youth and reserve teams in the EFL Cup.

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Arsenal were always a pioneer in this way of navigating the least-desired trophy. Arsene Wenger prioritised the development of young players and used these lesser-pressurised games where the result was not as demanded as opportunities to provide prospects with first-team minutes. And now, in Wenger’s wake, Unai Emery has continued that tradition.

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On Tuesday night, the Gunners opened their Carabao Cup endeavours for the present season. And in their thumping 5-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, there was one young player who stood out as a shining star: Gabriel Martinelli, who scored twice in the victory.

Martinelli opened the floodgates in the first half with a brilliant, throwback header, bravely and instinctively contorting his head, bending low to direct Calum Chambers’ volleyed cross into the top corner. He then topped it all off in the closing seconds, first smartly collecting a pass on the half-turn, spinning into space, and unleashing a shot from distance, which kindly deflected past a stranded goalkeeper.

But the best part of Martinelli’s performance actually had nothing to do with the two goals he scored, however impressive they may have been.

The 18-year-old was leading the Arsenal line on his own. It is no enviable task, especially for a young player who has spent much of his playing years out wide. But Martinelli showed surprising understanding as he performed plenty of the nuances of the lone striker position, holding up play well, dribbling at defenders, winning fouls, and, most impactfully, pressing when out of possession.

Playing with that quintessential South American ferocity, Martinelli was relentless when he pressed the Forest defenders. He made one block, won two of his three attempted tackles (Mesut Ozil, in comparison, did not even attempt a tackle), and completed two of his three dribble attempts.

He also did not give up on lost causes. Throughout the 90 minutes, he frequently chased down poor passes into channels behind the Forest defence, forcing a hurried and wayward clearance, not giving the opposition time and space to play out and build an attack. In a word, Martinelli was a ‘nuisance’, and that is precisely what you need from a lone centre-forward.

Whether Martinelli can break into the first team remains to be seen. Any meaningful conclusions from this performance must be tempered by the quality of the opposition. Nevertheless, if he continues to work and press as he did here, the opportunities to play will come. Martinelli scored a brace, yes, but what really jumped out was his work off the ball, and that is incredibly exciting indeed.