Gabby Agbonlahor has said on talkSPORT (5:39pm, February 11, 2023) that Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli is not in good form.
The former Aston Villa striker made the comments about Martinelli after watching him in action for Arsenal against Brentford at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
The London derby ended in a draw.
The 21-year-old Brazil international forward started the match for the Gunners.
However, Martinelli failed to make a massive impact.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta decided to take off the £180,000-a-week (The Sun journalist Daniel Cutts on Twitter) forward in the second half.
Leandro Trossard came on in his place.
And the Belgium international winger scored within minutes.
Gabby Agbonlahor on Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli
Agbonlahor said: “Players have got to turn up. Martinelli has not been the same the last few weeks.”
Should Arteta drop Martinelli?
Now that Arsenal have failed to win against Everton and Brentford, there will be calls for manager Mikel Arteta to make changes to his team.
After all, the match against Manchester City will be massive.
Martinelli has not exactly been in great form recently, but we think that Arteta should maintain his faith in him.
We know that the Brazil international is brilliant, and he will himself know that he needs to do better.
There is no need to drop the 21-year-old now.
Having Trossard on the bench is a very good option, and Arteta could just bring on the winger when he sees that Martinelli is not doing well.
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