Arteta has figured out how to unlock Martinelli again

Mikel Arteta went to the King Power Stadium with the intention of shaking things up a bit. For weeks now, the absence of Gabriel Jesus through injury has been accepted to mean one thing – Nketiah will start until the Brazilian is back.

Since the North London Derby, however, the Arsenal attack has struggled to create many clear cut chances, leading to a drop in form and multiple dropped points.

Martinelli-Nketiah-Saka wasn’t working as well as it could or possibly should have been, so Arteta changed it up: Martinelli-Trossard-Saka. It was a stroke of genius from the Gunners boss.

The focal point of Arsenal’s illustrious attack that was on show at the start of the season was Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian was a less-conventional Number 9 but the way he would drop deep or drop into wide spaces to find the ball would allow Gabriel Martinelli to play slightly more centrally. Martinelli strived in this inside forward role and produced much greater attacking output as opposed to the last few games.

Trossard replicates this action when playing as the Number 9. The Belgian was seen dropping deep to help the team play out from the back, as well as picking up the ball in wide areas. Both of these movements allowed Martinelli to work into the middle and pose a more direct threat to the Leicester defence. This sequence was exactly how Arsenal scored the winning goal to walk away with the three points.

So how much better is Martinelli x Trossard compared to Martinelli x Nketiah? Here’s the breakdown (stats per game), as per Sofascore :

The numbers don’t lie – Martinelli is much more of a direct threat when playing with Leandro Trossard. Apart from his open goal run to net the fourth against Aston Villa (1 goal, 0.98 xG), Martinelli has blown his previous output out of the water. Interestingly enough, his lack of dribbles and vast increase in passes shows how Martinelli can play as part of the system much more, rather than having to create for himself.

Leandro Trossard playing through the middle has seemed to unlock Gabriel Martinelli again – there’s no reason to not start the same attack against Everton. It’s a no brainer.