Arsenal: All Gabriel Martinelli needs now is more time

Expecting anything from Gabriel Martinelli this season was dicey, yet somehow he’s become Arsenal’s most frequent goal contributor. Just give him more time.

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the failing attack here at Arsenal. About who we can call on to fix it. From the ashes, Nicolas Pepe came through as the instigator to change things, with Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang proving to be… lesser. Then there’s Gabriel Martinelli.

Martinelli was a wild card all year. There’s no way we could have anticipated what to expect from him, but suffice to say if you said he’d have nine goals and two assists across all competitions before the midway point, we’d be pretty thrilled.

Moving beyond that, let’s isolate the goals and assists category in the two main competitions—Premier League and Europa League.

Taking just those two competitions, no one is better than Gabriel Martinelli. He’s producing goals at once every 104 minutes. The only other person close to that is Pierre-Emerick Aubam— nope, just kidding. It’s Bukayo Saka, at 106 minutes.

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Aubameyang and Lacazette share the next slots at 123 minutes and 122 minutes, respectively. Then comes Nicolas Pepe at 130.

Make no mistake about it, these aren’t chump competitions. The fact that our two highest producers are teenagers is no mistake. And it’s also why Freddie Ljungberg had to come out and say that you can’t just expect the kids to save the club, despite what the numbers tell us.

But then we come to the whole, “we won’t know until we try.” If Martinelli and Saka are creating more goals than any other players, then let them keep doing it until they don’t anymore. The only way these numbers will change is if you give them more time. If it stays the same, you know you’re on to something. If it slackens, fine, you’ve made your point. But you won’t know until you try and it would be silly not to at least give it a chance.

After all, it’s not like we’re doing any better with the rest of the people we have. I get far more excited to see Martinelli and Saka than I do to see Aubameyang and Lacazette. That’s just where we are right now. Play the hot foot.

Besides, it’s not like either of these guys has shown any signs of slowing down. So whatever optimism we have can find firm roots in their continued usage.