What the Spanish manager wouldn’t give for six months of his countryman’s two-footed talents right now, after losing Bukayo Saka for “many, many weeks” due to a hamstring injury.
It is important for the Arsenal project as a whole to do so, as Declan Rice succinctly put it afterwards.
Arsenal cannot take their foot off the pedal even for a few minutes. Liverpool looked like they might slip up against Leicester, only to come from behind and eventually win comfortably 3-1 on Boxing Day. The Gunners looked asleep at the start of both halves against Ipswich and it was the only time the Tractor Boys threatened to score, but failed, meaning Kai Havertz’s opener was enough.
Arsenal’s record without Bukayo Saka? It’s barely worth mentioning
Read MoreNevertheless, Arteta will persist with Martinelli on the right, and hope that time breeds familiarity and fluency.
“In general they played well but they were not opening Ipswich that well.”
“I think the replacement of Saka is going to be the team, and that unit in particular, and having minutes together and asking different things,” Arteta said.
But how?
Arteta too acknowledged that the two players are stylistically different, and his team would need to adapt.
“If you isolate him too much, he’s going to suffer, especially playing with a natural foot on the right. And that’s things that we can evolve and improve.
Using the Odegaard crossing threat
Saka is a left-footed winger on the right, who increasingly threatens both shoulders. Martinelli deployed on the right has to target the byline more than the England international does, making him marginally more predictable – although Kieran McKenna, known as one of the Premier League’s sharpest tactical minds, insists it is not that dissimilar a picture for defences.
Gabriel Jesus has helped ease a major worry for Arsenal at a vital time
Read More“[Without Saka], Arsenal still have that threat with [Martin] Odegaard.
“Martinelli is obviously a more linear runner in that position, and Saka has maybe the versatility to deal with both.”
“He needs to understand a few things,” Arteta had said before the game.
Arteta’s notoriously hard-to-earn trust is still clearly building.
A deal may be done
Arteta did not rule out mid-season business.
“Hopefully we won’t have any more injuries.
It is certainly awful timing that Sterling, who is being paid by Chelsea to play for Arsenal, picked up a knee problem just days before Saka left Selhurst Park on crutches. He was Arteta’s preferred option to slot in with the talisman out and it would have given the 30-year-old the chance of a sustained role in the team: since making the switch across London, he has only once started consecutive games (completing neither) and in total and has played all across the front line in three different positions. He has only played 90 minutes for Arteta once, and all of a sudden the manager is desperate to have him back.
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