“”He’s score just only 2 goals in 20 PL games this season. Arteta isn’t helping him at all and he’s become a very big problem”- Arsenal icon Ian Wright delivers a brutal verdict on how poor Mikel Arteta has handled his €85M star despite a fantastic last season

“”He’s score just only 2 goals in 20 PL games this season. Arteta isn’t helping him at all and he’s become a very big problem”- Arsenal icon Ian Wright delivers a brutal verdict on how poor Mikel Arteta has handled his €85M star despite a fantastic last season

Ian Wright praised Gabriel Martinelli for the role he played in Arsenal opening the scoring during their 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Sunday.

A lot has been made of the 22-year-old’s performances for Arsenal this season and how he has dropped off compared to last season – Thierry Henry has already voiced his concerns.

Given that Gabriel Martinelli scored 15 goals and supplied five assists in the Premier League last season, and that at the age of 21, then it’s a pretty hard act to follow.

But against Fulham, Ian Wright felt he was causing ‘all sorts of problems’ as his direct run and shot led to Bukayo Saka scoring, as he told Premier League Productions (31/12/23 at 2:55 pm).

That was a glimpse of Gabriel Martinelli being back to his best, aided by the fact that he had Kai Havertz back in the XI also.

But those early positive signs wore off from the player and he was subbed by Mikel Arteta just after the hour mark, with his team going on to suffer a very costly 2-1 defeat.

“It has come all the way from the goalkeeper,” said Wright. “But the main thing is that you have got a left-footed player in Kai Havertz, who is on that left side and getting ready to set Martinelli free.

“Once Martinelli gets into this position (one-on-one against the fullback). You can see the defender in all sorts of problems. Cuts onto his right foot and we get the goal. That’s what Arsenal are capable of on that left-hand side, if you have got that left-footer.

“From here, any defender is going to have a problem.”

Arsenal’s struggles

Things aren’t looking great for Arsenal, in terms of their performances, this season in comparison to the previous campaign.

If you are winning, then you can see the positives and claim that the team is grinding out results because, at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

But that’s not proving to be the case for Arsenal here because, during such a difficult period of the campaign, they are starting to drop points.

And you just wonder what the reaction would be like if they fail to win the title again because the pressure will be well on Arteta’s shoulders.