Martin Keown feels Arsenal ‘could really punish’ Chelsea on Sunday if they feed the ball to Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. The Gunners icon claims the duo are ‘leading’ the club.
Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge striving to spend another week atop the Premier League table. Mikel Arteta’s men entered the weekend leading Manchester City by two points and with a 10-point margin to Chelsea in sixth. They have also only lost one of their 12 fixtures.
- SAKA AND MOUNT IN OUR COMBINED CHELSEA VS ARSENAL XI BUT NO STERLING
- EMERY’S ARSENAL EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL XI VS CHELSEA NOW WITH AUBAMEYANG
Saka and Martinelli have started all 12 of the Emirates Stadium side’s matches so far. They also account for four and five of their club’s 30 goals respectively, whilst laying on five and two assists. Only Gabriel Jesus has influenced more efforts after scoring and assisting five.
Keown notes Jesus’ impact has regressed in recent weeks with the Brazilian without a goal in four games. Although the 25-year-old ended a run of eight matches without an assist by creating two against Nottingham Forest. Jesus assisted Reiss Nelson and Martin Odegaard.
Saka also recorded an assist as Arsenal demolished Nottingham Forest 5-0 last Sunday. He fed Martinelli in only the fifth minute to break the deadlock. But Arteta had to replace the 21-year-old on 27 minutes. Yet the England star then made a swift return in the Europa League.
Keown feels Arsenal’s ‘magnificent’ Martinelli and Saka can ‘really punish’ Chelsea
Another player whom Keown praises for helping inspire Arsenal’s strong start to the term is Oleksandr Zinchenko. Arteta returned to raid Manchester City for the Ukraine defender in a £32m deal in July. He had already raided the Etihad Stadium once in July for Jesus at £45m.
But Keown now feels Saka and Martinelli are carrying the burden of leading Arsenal ahead of visiting Chelsea. And the Gunners hero believes the dynamic forwards can run Graham Potter’s side ragged on Sunday if the Emirates Stadium outfit utilise them in west London.
“Martinelli and Saka are two wonderful players now,” he told talkSPORT. “They’re leading the club. At the start of the season, it was Zinchenko and Jesus who kind of raised the bar. Zinchenko has been injured for some time and Jesus has fallen away with his goals.
“But those two young individuals are really leading them at the top of the table. They’re quite magnificent and if you get the ball to those two as much as possible in wide areas, then they could really punish Chelsea at the weekend.”
Saka scored when Arsenal last faced Chelsea this April after hitting their final strike in a 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge. A brace by Eddie Nketiah around an Emile Smith Rowe hit gave the Gunners the lead before the 20-cap England star converted his penalty in the 90th minute.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
