Arsenal have sold Gabriel Martinelli after spending two years asking the wrong question about him.
The question became simple. Is Martinelli good enough to be the left winger for a title-winning Arsenal?
The better question was why Arsenal kept making the left winger play such a lonely version of the position.
Martinelli scored 15 Premier League goals in 2022/23. That season Arsenal’s left side had movement around him. Granit Xhaka attacked the inside channel. Oleksandr Zinchenko stepped into midfield. Gabriel Jesus drifted towards the ball and dragged centre-backs with him. Martinelli could start wide and then attack the box because other players were moving defenders before he arrived.
The structure changed.
Xhaka left. Rice often occupied the left eight role but offered a different threat. Arsenal became increasingly tilted towards Saka and Odegaard on the right. The left winger was frequently asked to hold width, receive against a settled full-back and create separation with very little manipulation around him.
Martinelli’s form declined. The diagnosis became Martinelli.
Villa Park should make Arsenal question that diagnosis.
Christos Tzolis started on the left. He has the traits supporters have spent two seasons asking for. He is direct. He can beat a man. He produced 17 goals and 23 assists in the Belgian Pro League last season. Arsenal paid for a winger who should threaten the outside shoulder and punish space.
For 45 minutes, Matty Cash had him where he wanted him.
Tzolis received too many possessions with Cash already set. Arsenal’s left side was arranged around the winger rather than moving the defence for him. When Tzolis did lose one duel in the 28th minute he pulled Cash back and was booked. The contest became increasingly personal because Arsenal had turned a structural problem into a one-versus-one test.
Squawka’s post-match analysis put only 24 per cent of Arsenal’s first-half attacks down the left. After Eze came on, that rose to 30 per cent. The important part is not the six-point swing. It is how it happened. Arsenal did not suddenly give the substitute more isolated dribbles. They gave Villa more decisions.
Then Eze came on.
He did not fix the left side by dribbling past Cash repeatedly. He changed where Cash had to look.
Eze received inside. Calafiori could run beyond him. Cash suddenly had two references instead of one. Step towards Eze and Calafiori goes. Hold Calafiori and Eze can turn.
The winning goal comes from that exact problem. Eze gets the ball inside, Calafiori attacks the channel, Villa turn towards their own goal and Saka arrives at the far post.
That sequence should make Arsenal uncomfortable.
Eze is not the new left winger. His impact tells us something about the old left winger.
Martinelli was often criticised for running into defenders, taking poor touches near the line and failing to combine tightly enough. Some of that criticism was fair. His decision-making plateaued. He did not become the one-versus-one winger Arsenal hoped he might.
But Arsenal also kept feeding him possessions that demanded exactly that skill.
Trossard survived the same environment better because his instinct was to come inside and combine. He could become an extra midfielder for a few seconds. Martinelli wanted to attack the space behind. When that space disappeared, Arsenal rarely recreated it for him.
Tzolis is closer to Martinelli than Trossard in that respect.
That is why the Villa first half matters beyond one poor debut. If Arsenal station Tzolis high and wide, put a full-back in front of him and ask him to manufacture the advantage alone, we will be watching the same complaint with a different shirt number.
Calafiori can change it. Eze can change it. A more adventurous left eight can change it. Faster switches can change it. Early transition passes can change it.
Buying a new winger cannot.
The Guardian reported on deadline day that Martinelli was undergoing a medical ahead of a move to Al-Hilal while Arsenal continued to reshape the attack. The fee may be good business. The timing may be right. Arsenal may still be correct to sell him.
The danger is learning the wrong lesson from why his Arsenal career stalled.
If Tzolis is asked to stand where Martinelli stood and wait for the same service, Arsenal will discover they sold the player and kept the problem.
Gerry G – Goonerviews
