Some Gooners were not surprised that Gabriel Martinelli did not start against Crystal Palace; the Brazilian had struggled to influence games in the run-up to the midseason break.
There were constant calls for him to be benched, and he was against Palace. Fortunately, Arsenal are able to still perform without him. By the time he was substituted on in the 69th minute, the Gunners were already leading 3-0. As if desperate to gain a starting spot when Arsenal plays next, the Brazilian was hyped in that cameo appearance; he scored twice in the final minutes of the game to pick up a brace.
Though everyone was pleased that his goals helped Arsenal to a 5-0 victory, others wondered if he had started the game and whether he would have been as influential as he was after coming on as a sub. Indirectly responding to that question, Mikel Arteta stated that the winger should have started the game, but he did not because he wasn’t 100% in training heading to the game, so he wasn’t fit to start.
As quoted by the club’s official website, Arteta said about Martinelli: “He had a little issue in the last few days in training, so he wasn’t fully, fully fit, that changes momentum, it changes perception, it re-energises you. It’s everything.”
It remains to be seen whether Martinelli will start the next time Arsenal plays. If he starts, let’s hope he picks up where he left off. There was speculation that if there had been extra minutes at the end of that game, the Arsenal No. 11 would have easily picked up a hat-trick.
Maybe Arsenal should use Martinelli as a supersub more often when our opponents are tiring?
What do you think?
Darren N