Arsenal: Drop everything and start Gabriel Martinelli

Gabriel Martinelli continues to score at a ridiculous rate, so it’s time Arsenal prioritize the young man and get him into the first team more.

There isn’t a lot going right for Arsenal lately, but after seeing another midweek fixture dominated by the £6m summer signing Gabriel Martinelli, I’m inclined to believe that happiness is just around the corner…. and I mean actually just around the corner.

Matched up against Liverpool at Anfield (of all places… of all opponents), the Gunners were given little to no chance, even with both sides heavily rotated. Despite the high quality of play we’ve been seeing from the second team, there wasn’t much confidence that they could step up to the Reds away from home.

That’s when Gabriel Martinelli happened… again. And proved that all those goals against Standard Liege, Nottingham Forest and Vitoria were no fluke. This guy just scores a lot, and that includes against Liverpool.

Gabriel Martinelli has played just 45 minutes across three substitute appearances in the Premier League, but in midweek competitions, this young man has made four appearances and scored a whopping seven goals, the most of any player at Arsenal at the moment.

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In case you haven’t noticed, Arsenal’s attack has gone stale. And I mean really stale. Like, so bad that fans actually think that Mesut Ozil is the solution.

Segueing from that, Martinelli may actually be the solution. Because nearly every situation he gets into with the possibility of a goal… ends up being a goal. His finishing is more on point than many first-teamers I’ve seen and he clearly has that it factor to work well into space with speed and precision. It’s all the things we could use more of, especially as Nicolas Pepe continues to struggle to find himself.

And since Unai Emery doesn’t want Martinelli to be a striker, the way is cleared out as a winger. Bukayo Saka had a shot there for awhile, but now it’s time to let Martinelli have himself a go. You can’t earn it any more clearly than he’s earned it. Seven goals in four starts is a massive accomplishment and it’d be such a wasted opportunity not to try to build on that momentum to bolster a struggling senior squad.

Of course, us knowing it should happen and Unai Emery knowing it should happen are two very different things. There are a lot of things that Emery needs to know.