Arsenal: Where does Gabriel Martinelli fit in next season?

Gabriel Martinelli Will Play for Arsenal – He’s Too Good Not to

This is competition. This is what Arsenal haven’t had enough of for years. It’s been a case of choosing the lesser of two evils, not the A+ or the A++. It’s healthy.

Where there is worry to be had is with how many starts he will make. Overlooked is how the team that starts a match is often nothing like the one that finished it, either in personnel or style and approach.

As a weapon off the bench there are few as dangerous of Martinelli, who feasts on weakness and preys on indecision. Even when defenders keep the spaces right and make the right decisions, he tends to come out on top.

Statistically he’s through the roof. Sample size and the timing of his appearances needs remembering his but his ability to get into threatening shooting positions and instinctively understand space is why he records a npxG+xA of 0.80 per 90. 98th percentile numbers, backed up by a high volume of shots attempted, dribbles completed, pressures, interceptions, blocks, clearances…the lot.

You can’t ignore those numbers. They’re figures that leave all those vying for a place in their team having to excel or lose their spot.

Arteta has been heavily critiqued for his perceived lack of faith in Martinelli, claims he’s regularly played down, and even most recently when discussing Smith Rowe and Kieran Tierney’s new contracts he name dropped Gabi as a unique talent.

"“Kieran has this capacity, and Emile as well, to lift the crowd with an action, Gabi Martinelli has this capacity – and this is something you either have or you don’t have,” he said on the official Arsenal website."

The manager added after the Brazilian’s late winner against Crystal Palace on the penultimate game of last season that he couldn’t be any closer to choosing him in the starting lineup.

"When asked how close he was, he replied: “Very close and he needs to keep fighting to be closer and closer. We need to understand where the boys are and the phase of their development, what they have done already this season and last season.”"

And with all of this it’s so easy to forget he’s only just turned 20 years old. An industrious shooting machine, there will come a point where anything other than being in the starting lineup becomes unfathomable. He’s almost there already.

But we should stop short before assuming he’s going to be starting every match. Praying for the ‘breakthrough’ season, it just might not be this one if everyone else keeps their form up. Nevertheless, he will get his chances. If he keeps taking them as he has, there will be nothing to fear.