Arsenal legend Petit claims Arteta is partly to blame for Martinelli form; Mudryk will regret Chelsea move

Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit thinks Mikel Arteta’s tactics are part of the reason for Gabriel Martinelli’s recent dip in form.

The Brazilian has been brilliant for most of the season for the Gunners but he has contributed no goals and one assist in his last seven matches in all competitions.

There are some calls for January signing Leandro Trossard – who climbed off the bench on Saturday to score the Arsenal goal in a 1-1 draw with Brentford – to replace Martinelli in the side.

And Petit reckons there are a number of reasons for the Arsenal winger’s poor form but it’s obvious that the Brazil international is “tired mentally and physically”.

Petit told Compare.Bet: “I know they bought a couple of interesting players, but he’s playing every single game. It’s the same for all the players that went to the World Cup. I know, from my own experience, that it’s not easy.

“When we used to play a big tournament at the end of the season, we’d look very tired mentally and physically. So I can imagine, after playing a World Cup and then going back to their club playing every few days, it can be tiring. They need time to recover.

“Martinelli is still young, he’s only 21, he’s still so young and he has plenty of time to improve. I’m not surprised that he’s having a difficult time at the moment. He looks tired – mentally and physically.

“I would also say he has a tough time due to the tactical setup. With Zinchenko tucking inside to the midfield, he doesn’t get the same support as Saka does on the right side with Ben White.

“I can understand that, you can see the way Arsenal play, most of the time it goes down the right-hand side. For me, Martinelli has the quality to make a difference by himself – his speed, he’s fast with the ball.

“However, it’s not the main reason behind his form, for me, it’s more about him being tired mentally and physically. He needs to recover, but I’m not very confident that Arteta will rotate.”

Mykhaylo Mudryk moved to Chelsea in the January transfer window after strong interest from Arsenal and Petit reckons the Ukraine international wanted to join the Gunners.

On whether Mudryk will regret his decision, Petit added: “Well, look at his face when he signed for Chelsea. He didn’t look very happy. I remember when he was posting about Arsenal on social media, saying how he was a huge fan of Arsenal and willing to join the club. I can understand that Arsenal didn’t want to pay more than £100 million for this guy.

“Arsenal were willing to pay a lot of money for him, but Chelsea were putting more money on the table. Arsenal didn’t want to challenge Chelsea at the casino table, which I can understand. If you ask that question to Mudryk, I’m pretty sure he would have loved to go to Arsenal instead of Chelsea.”

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