Gabriel Martinelli, in the opinion of Arsenal legend Martin Keown, is a more natural goal scorer than Gabriel Jesus. Martinelli performs best as a central striker, according to the former defender.
After being seen in training this week, Jesus is about to resume his mission. Since sustaining a knee injury during the World Cup, the Brazilian has been out of commission.
Due to the injuries that Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossard were experiencing, Martinelli was given the opportunity to play up front in recent games. He has scored the most goals for the Gunners in the Premier League this season as they pursue their first championship since 2004.
Martinelli was the only available striker for Thursday's first leg at Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League last-16. And Keown was undoubtedly eager to see him perform.
The 21-year-old has largely benefited from his success from the left, the speaker observed. He believes, however, that he will ultimately play in the center.
Keown said on BT Sport: "I believe, strongly believe, that he's a natural goalscorer. And I would have thought actually the central position is his natural position.
"But from the left, we now get inside forwards. We saw this with [Mohamed] Salah and [Sadio] Mane, particularly when they played together as a pair, just tucking in, because Saka's doing the same thing. So they get a bit more freedom.
"But put him in the middle and he will score goals. I think he's about to prove that tonight. He's got everything in his game."
After that, Keown was asked if Martinelli had a better eye for goal than the resurrected Jesus. Jesus might not agree with the pundit's response because he is about to make another bid for a spot on Arteta's team.
Keown responded: "I do, without doubt. Watch out for his movement tonight, where he sniffs out opportunities.
"He's definitely a player on the move whenever the ball comes into the box. He's never stood still, always on the move, very difficult to play against.
"And I do feel that is his natural position. He's not necessarily a player you can go into and bounce things off.
"But when the ball is in wide positions, his movement's fantastic. Pace is an ingredient which frightens defenders to death and he has pace in abundance. So that's what he's got now to be a top player. It's all in front of him."
No comments:
Post a Comment