On Wednesday night, the north Londoners play City at the Etihad Stadium in a game that may determine the Premier League champion. The Gunners are presently five points ahead of the Citizens at the top of the league, but if they win both of their remaining games in hand, they would pass their championship rivals by one point.
"The pressure is off Arsenal because everyone expects City to win that game,” Richards told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“One way to play against City is on the counter-attack. I would play [Kyle] Walker in that game to stop Martinelli.
"His pace is frightening. Everyone talks about [Bukayo] Saka and [Martin] Odegaard, but nobody talks about Martinelli. On transition, he is frightening."
Richards has encouraged Guardiola to bring Walker back into the starting lineup for Wednesday's tantalizing match in order to thwart Arsenal forward Martinelli's transition.
Given that none of Martinelli's league goals this season have come from the penalty spot, his 15 league goals are all the more astounding.
Arsenal has not defeated City away from home since January 2015, so they will need the Brazilian international to be at their best if they want to earn all three points.
No comments:
Post a Comment