Former Arsenal star, Kevin Campbell believes Emile Smith Rowe will keep his place in the team against Wolves after his stunning performance against Brentford in the last match.
Gabriel Martinelli was suspended for the game against the Bees, and Mikel Arteta brought the Englishman back into the starting XI.
He repaid that faith with a solid all-around performance and capped it off with a goal for the club.
This is enough reason to keep him in the starting XI even though Martinelli is available for selection.
Campbell believes Smith Rowe has waited for his chance and grabbed it in the game against Brentford.
He tells Football Insider: “He was been patient, calm and waited for his chance. When he wasn’t in the team he came off the bench and scored. He got his chance and he has taken it.
“That goal was him in a nutshell. That is the quality he possesses. He picks up the ball, drives at the defenders and gets Arsenal up and running. It was brilliant.
“Smith Rowe is a wonderful young player. He has produced the goods and drop him at your peril.
“Martinelli may have to sit on the bench for a few games because the team performed, especially in the second half.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Struggling to select between Martinelli and Smith Rowe is one of the nicest problems any manager can have.
Arteta wants a competitive squad because that will bring out the best in each player.
If he chooses to start Martinelli, the Brazilian would be eager to impress, knowing Smith Rowe could play ahead of him anytime.
Based on the assumption that all of Laca, Saka, and Odegaard are safe in their positions.
ESR could challenge Odegaard for the 10 spot, and either Pepe or Martinelli could challenge Laca for striker.
It depends on what Arteta sees or is trying to do with his squad and the opponent. Agree or disagree, he’s the one making the decisions.
I think it’s Laca who will lose out. Front three of Martinelli, ESR, Saka with Ødegaard in behind. Pepé unfortunately on the bench. Let’s see what the team is tonight,
if MA were to shoehorn ESR into a wider position at the expense of Marts this would simply be another indication that our present manager has no interest in further developing his tactical philosophy, at least not in the short-term…for me ESR needs to occupy more centrally-located spaces, so either we adjust our tactics or ESR needs to replace Ode…now maybe we try ESR in a false 9 role, which would allow MA to have ESR, Marts and Ode on the pitch at the same time, but it still would require some unnecessary shoehorning for the sole purpose of ensuring that Ode and Xhaka are always in the starting 11…as long as we have this sideways footballing dynamic at work we will continue to struggle for goals against any team with a sound defensive philosophy as our wide side players will face constant double-teams, which will inevitably lead to a flurry of nonsensical crosses into spaces where we’re constantly undermanned and ill-equipped to produce high percentage opportunities…obviously, it would be difficult to argue with the notion of MA further punishing Marts for his red card misstep as that’s what he’s done in previous situations with the likes of Xhaka(NOT!!!)
KEVIN CAMPBELL, the new JA owner -it seems to me- never says a single thing that ever sheds any new light on things. He is the King of the Blee**ng Obvious and as boring as hell!
Can anyone on here explain WHY those who run JA are so in thrall to this nothing special ex-player from three decades ago??
JA is simply reporting the opinion of an ex-Arsenal player.
But why are YOU so obsessed with him?