Kyle Walker reacts to Gabriel Martinelli having ‘zero impact’ as Man City beat Arsenal

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Kyle Walker has stated ‘it’s what I do’ when he was told that Gabriel Martinelli had ‘zero impact’ during Arsenal’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night.

The former Tottenham player added that he ‘relishes’ these challenges as he ensured Gabriel Martinelli was unable to add to his 14 Premier League goals this season.

In the end, the Brazil star was subbed by Mikel Arteta in the second half, with Oleksandr Zinchenko also having a troublesome time when coming up against Kyle Walker, as Arsenal saw their Premier League title challenge take the biggest of hits.

The issue for the current Premier League leaders is, probably other than Aaron Ramsdale, every single other player had a game to forget on the biggest night of their season.

Of course, all of this is coming at the wrong time because they are now four without a win and their title hopes are out of their hands.

Former Manchester City man Shaun Wright-Phillips, son of Arsenal legend Ian Wright, told Walker that he kept Martinelli ‘quiet’ and the England right-back issued the following response, as he told Premier League Productions (26/04/23 at 10:20 pm).

“It’s been hard to keep a player like Martinelli quiet,” said Wright-Phillips. “But in today’s game, he had zero impact on it.”

Walker responded: “Well, thanks, first and foremost for the compliments. It’s what I do. Defending one v one, that’s what I bring to the team.

“Kind of like a cornerback in the NFL where you are just sweeping up. If I can’t come up against the best, then I probably shouldn’t be in the best team.

“So, these are the games I relish and these are the games I want to be involved in. It’s just something I bring to the team.”

LEARNING CURVE FOR MARTINELLI

Walker is the experienced pro here, a player who has come up against the best of the best in his career, from Kylian Mbappe to Martinelli’s national teammate, Vinicius Jr.

This will be a learning curve for the £90k-a-week (Spotrac) Arsenal youngster who has been one of the best players in the league this season.

Even though it’s obvious to all that the title is heading to Manchester, those in north London still have to fight until the end and also make sure they are back at it again next season.