Alan Smith has stated that Mikel Arteta could unleash Arsenal ‘talent’ Garbiel Martinelli in a Bernardo Silva like role against Everton on Monday night, as he told Off the Ball.
The former Arsenal striker thinks Arteta ‘could go with a false nine’ in order to freshen up his forward areas.
Even though Arsenal struggled during their 3-2 defeat at Manchester United last time out, one man who did stand tall above his teammates was Martinelli.
Prior to the Old Trafford defeat, Martinelli hadn’t started a Premier League game since August.
But will he now be handed back-to-back starts ahead of the trip to Merseyside?
Well, Smith thinks Arteta could go down the route of his former coach, Pep Guardiola, and play that ‘false nine’ against the struggling Toffees.
“Arteta could go with a false nine, which a lot of the top coaches like to do,” said Smith. “Martinelli’s re-emergence has been encouraging. He had an injury and he fell away. Then his confidence seemed to have taken a dip.
“But now he’s getting that competitive edge back and that fitness back, then he could be a handful. I don’t think he is going to be the answer through the middle. But short-term maybe he could do a job.
“I think if you have got a nice structure that everyone understands then it’s a bit easier for somebody like Martinelli to move inside and do a job.
“We have seen it at Manchester City with Bernardo Silva, Sterling and Foden. They have all played through the middle because everyone understands the system and how it works. And Arteta is trying to move towards that.
“There’s no doubt he is a talent. Someone who has got the pace. The appetite and it might be something, in the short-term, he could do.”
For a long while now, it seems as though Martinelli has been held back a little and he probably deserves more starts than he is handed.
Whether he is an out-and-out goalscorer remains to be seen, but in order for him to showcase his worth or to improve, he needs the starts on a regular basis.
But one thing is for sure, the speed in which he moves with the ball is pretty frightening and one that does put the opposition on the back foot.
And with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s struggles, it’s time that the young Brazilian is earning more minutes than his captain.
It would be a bold move by Arteta, but it seems as though it’s one that is needed in the long-term.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
