When the Premier League returns this weekend, all eyes will be on the London rivalry between Chelsea and Arsenal. Is London red or blue?
Mikel Arteta and the boys will travel to Stamford Bridge next Saturday, and I believe there is one player in our team who Chelsea should be scared of. Gabriel Martinelli is that player for me.
The Brazilian international started our first five league games of the season, doing what he does best, giving right backs a run for their money. Nonetheless, he suffered an injury when we played Everton on September 17th while continuing to establish his rhythm this season.
That injury kept him out of the 2-2 draw in the North London derby with Spurs and the 4-0 win over Bournemouth in the league. He also missed the Champions League games in which we beat PSV 4-0 and lost to Lens 2-1. And he also missed the 1-0 win over Brentford in the Carabao Cup.
Fortunately, he came back against Manchester City when we needed something special since Bukayo Saka, our “magician,” missed that game.
Versus the defending champs, he came off the bench as a halfway substitution against the defending champions and clearly demonstrated what we had been missing in recent weeks, revitalising the left wing and making it dangerous after weeks of it looking flat withot the Brazilian.
Mikel Arteta stated after the win over Manchester City, prior to the international break, that he hadn’t even intended to play Martinelli, but I’m sure he couldn’t help but listen to Martinelli’s pleas to play him because he needed a spark of magic against the Champions.
With Bukayo Saka again a bit of a doubt for our Chelsea game after having numerous knocks lately, we can rely on Martinelli to impact our performance.
The feeling is that throughout this international break (after his cameo versus Manchester City), he has continued to push and do everything possible to be fit to be a source of strength for us when we face Chelsea, who appear to be on the rise; they’ve won the last two league games.
Gabriel Martinelli, I feel, will play a huge part against Chelsea. Do you agree?
Sam P
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