Carragher blames Saka, Martinelli for Arsenal struggles as Neville says trio ‘need to combine’

Will Ford
Martinelli Saka Arsenal
Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka have been a revelation for Arsenal.

Jamie Carragher says Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli will need to be as effective as Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane for Liverpool if they are to win the Premier League title this season, as Gary Neville claimed the Arsenal forwards “need to combine” for frequently.

Arsenal will return to the top of the Premier League if they beat West Ham on Thursday after they were replaced by Liverpool at the summit on Boxing Day.

Mikel Arteta’s side are many people’s favourites to go all the way this season amid Manchester City’s relative struggles this term, with Gary Neville tipping the Gunners for the title at the start of the season.

The Sky Sports pundit still has faith in the north Londoners, but claimed Arsenal’s front three of Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli and Saka will cost them if they don’t start to link up more efficiently.

“At Arsenal is an emerging front three that could be great. But they don’t combine a lot together,” he said on the Gary Neville Podcast. “That’s a real problem, the best front threes involve their centre-forwards and the wide players, they play and bounce it off them.

“You see in years gone by, Salah, Firmino and Mane would link between the three of them. At Manchester United, when we were at our best, the front two would link between them.

“It is difficult for defenders to deal with them when front players link. Martinelli, Jesus and Saka, I don’t see them linking up a lot.

“I don’t see Liverpool making a move in that position in January because they’ve got Diogo Jota and plenty of players up there. It’s more Arsenal.

“I’ve been talking at the end of many of their games this season about whether Gabriel Jesus or Eddie Nketiah are No 1 and No 2 strikers in Premier League title-winning sides. Or whether they are actually No 2 and No 3 strikers and they need that No 1.”

Carragher believes Saka and Martinelli will need to increase their output to make up for Jesus’ lack of goals, just like Salah and Mane did playing with Roberto Firmino for Liverpool.

“When you have someone like Jesus at the top end of the pitch, you need to have someone like Mohamed Salah or your goalscorer out wide. He [Jesus] is almost Roberto Firmino-like in that his job wasn’t to score goals,” he said.

“When you look at Arsenal’s front three and put them together, there’s not really enough goals there. They need someone to be a Mo Salah or a Sadio Mane so there’s no-one to notice Firmino’s lack of goals.

“Believe it or not, the season where Liverpool won the title in 2020, Firmino didn’t score a goal at Anfield in the league. That is unbelievable for a team winning the title. But Jesus, we look at him because there’s not those amount of goals coming from the wide areas.

“I look at Arsenal and parts of Liverpool and go: can they win the league with deficiencies in certain areas? You look at Arsenal and you think can you win the title with a lack of a goalscorer every week who is going to be getting a goal or close to getting one?”

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