Arsenal: 3 ways to play Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard & Smith Rowe

The kids are alright. The kids are more than alright, they’re darn fantastic. And now Mikel Arteta has the most welcome of conundrums on his plate when selecting his Arsenal forward line.

It’s now the great question of our time: how do you get Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli into the same team?

Martinelli has four goals and two assists his his last six Premier League outings; Smith Rowe has seven goals and two assists; Odegaard has four goals and an assist; and Saka has three goals and four assists.

For four matches running in the Premier League the manager has gone for a front four with Alexandre Lacazette starting in front of Saka, Odegaard and Martinelli. The first usage of that quartet fell short at Everton, but in the three matches since it’s produced three rip-roaring performances.

Can Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta play Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard & Emile Smith Rowe all at the same time?

Not to be left behind, Smith Rowe has entered the fray on the previous two outings as a substitute and scored. On current form, Arteta has an array of riches to select from as all four of the young stars are worthy of involvement in the starting lineup.

There is still some way to go and ideally there are five players vying for those three positions – Nicolas Pepe should be in that conversation but most definitely isn’t – yet it nonetheless has prompted some vigorous head scratching among supporters.

Like choosing a favourite child, no one can be left out or chosen above the others. They’re all magnificent talents and immensely likeable characters, so what can Arteta do?

How do you fit all four in the team, especially when Lacazette performs a role unique to his skillset? There are a few options to go consider.

1. Gabriel Martinelli at Centre-Forward in 4-2-3-1

One of the clearer ways to incorporate all four is to remove Lacazette from the equation. Currently performing to an excellent standard in the No. 9 role, finding an upgrade on him is the next piece of the puzzle.

Martinelli has long-been tipped to move into a centre-forward role and the talk is that Arteta still sees this as a viable option in the future, but it depends greatly on what it is that the manager wants from a striker.

All signs point towards him essentially wanting a younger and faster version of Lacazette.

The system now operates more as a collection of attacking midfielders in central areas boosted by wide forwards hungry to make diagonal runs towards the box with constant interchangeability. Lacazette’s penchant for dropping deep, being physical in his hold-up play and bringing others into the game is a far cry from Martinelli’s skillset: one prefers coming short and the other favours playing on the shoulder in central areas.

Systematically the team has found joy of late with the Frenchman dropping off the first line of opposition defence and opening the spaces in behind for Martinelli to run into. Doing a straight swap would detract from the finer qualities of Martinelli, which all sing closer to the opponents’ box.

Him playing there can work, but would see a change in approach more familiar to that which is in use when Aubameyang plays up front.

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