Keown claims Arsenal star’s place in Arteta’s side for Man City ‘is in question’
Arsenal legend Martin Keown thinks Gabriel Martinelli’s position in Mikel Arteta’s side to face Manchester City “is in question”.
The Gunners have made a good start to the new season with three wins and a draw from their opening four Premier League matches, including a 1-0 win over arch-rivals Tottenham in the North London derby last weekend.
David Raya’s astonishing double save from the penalty spot on Thursday night earned Arsenal a 0-0 draw in their opening Champions League fixture.
Arsenal struggled to carve open Atalanta’s defence and create many clear-cut openings with Martinelli and his fellow attackers struggling against the Serie A side.
The Brazil international missed the Gunners’ best opportunity of the night in the second half with Martinelli now on a run of 17 matches for Arsenal without contributing a goal or an assist.
And Keown reckons Arteta will stick with Martinelli for their crucial clash against Premier League champions Manchester City but his place “is in question”.
“[Martin] Odegaard is, without doubt, a big loss because he kind of sets everything going,” Keown told TNT Sports.
“He runs out into that pocket for [Bukayo] Saka, opens up the space for him and can feed him.
“[Kai] Havertz was a little bit fixed tonight, wasn’t moving in the same way, they tried to drop him and out, I don’t think that worked, you’ve got to have an out and out striker – maybe [Leandro] Trossard comes in at the weekend to fill that role.
“Although maybe Martinelli’s position is in question, in front of goal he needs a little bit more composure, but I think the manager will stick with him.”
Keown added: “It’s a learning process, you have to go through that and learn as a group and you draw off one another, you look around the dressing room.
“We were just chatting there to Declan [Rice] about Martinelli – no goal in 17 games now. Is he going to spread that love, that leadership you need?”
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Ahead of their clash against Pep Guardiola’s side at the weekend, Keown’s fellow pundit Rio Ferdinand is concerned by Arsenal’s lack of attacking threat in their last couple of matches.
“I think that would be my concern at the weekend, I think the creativity, it’s something you look at today, the manager said it in his post-game comments, bit sloppy, ball retention wasn’t where it wanted to be,” Ferdinand said.
“And that will have to improve, they’ll have to be more clinical and decisive when they get that one or two opportunities. Let’s face it, City aren’t going to give them five or six opportunities, I’ll be surprised if they get that.
“Today, Martinelli had a really good chance and he wasn’t composed enough. They are areas where they’ll have to clean up their act if they’re going to get anything against Man City.”
