EMIRATES STADIUM — Before the match, Arsenal’s best chance to beat Manchester City in eight years seemingly hinged on Bukayo Saka’s fitness.
Arsenal have spent big, but wisely this summer to strengthen some key positions, all except one. Even if he was half-fit, Saka simply had to play.
Rarely has such scrutiny been placed on one player’s fitness since an England metatarsal watch, but Gunners heading to the Emirates got the bad news nobody wanted to hear.
Covid lockdowns were still a thing and games were being played behind closed doors the last time Saka missed a league match in May 2021.
But one of the reasons Saka has become so pivotal for Arsenal, however, is his support act on the opposite flank.
Martinelli has been tipped for the top ever since coming to our shores as a wide-eyed teenager. The only reason he has not reached such heady heights yet is his injury record.
Had he stayed injury free, Arsenal’s frontline could have reached the levels Liverpool’s Fab Three did at the peak of their powers.
His winner is hardly going to be included in any goal of the season lists, with the deflection off Nathan Ake proving decisive, but the fact he was there at the death, as all four of Arsenal’s substitutes combined to send the Emirates into delirium, speaks volumes for the intensity and dynamism of Arsenal’s unheralded starboy.
“He (Martinelli) has been saying for a few weeks I’m going to be there against City even though everyone said it would be too soon,” Mikel Arteta said after the game.
“Leo (Trossard) said after 30 minutes that he felt something in his hamstring and he (Martinelli) was ready with his kit straight on, straight away saying ‘boss, I am ready’. He’s a joy of a boy.
“He is a joy to have around because he can change a game with that mentality that he has.”
After a gruelling period, and with Dubai’s man-made beaches on the horizon, both sets of players seemed content to settle for a point to head into the international break with.
City had four shots in the match, their lowest total in a league game since April 2010, but while Arsenal’s tally of 12 in the contest suggests they fared much better in the final third, the fact only two were on target was telling. The Gunners failed to have a shot on target in the opening half of a Premier League home game for the first time since March 2022.
Martinelli changed all that, having both of the Gunners’ attempts at Ederson in the match.
Leandro Trossard was an astute signing last season and is a more than able deputy, but he does not possess the X factor Martinelli does – that vital ability to find something out of nothing.
That was the only way a game this closely-contested was going to be settled. City without Rodri are simply not the same daunting prospect. The Spaniard has been suspended for three games in all competitions, with City losing all three.
Erling Haaland was as quiet as he has been at any point in his City career at the Emirates, not because Arsenal marked him out of the game with Terry Butcher-esque hero defending, but due to the fact the champions were just so flat.
A team as unrelenting as Pep Guardiola’s City do not offer up such disinterested showings too often. Someone had to find the fire conspicuous by its absence at the Emirates.
Martinelli was that spark. A rest for Saka over the international break will provide Arteta with his fully fit first-choice front three. Then we can see what Arsenal really can do.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/QTNI0Kw
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