Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has praised winger Gabriel Martinelli for his ‘incredible’ work rate in training and against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Gabriel Martinelli has dazzled Mikel Arteta with his commitment to the Arsenal cause both in training and in matches.
Arsenal picked up another win on Saturday afternoon with Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard on the scoresheet against Wolves.
The Gunners were 2-0 up inside 15 minutes but couldn’t find a third, and that allowed Wolves to set up a tense finale with Matheus Cunha finding the net.
Arsenal managed to hang on, securing three points and a four-point gap at the top of the Premier League table.
Mikel Arteta praises Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli
Arsenal looked dangerous against Wolves and the intensity off the ball is something we come to expect from an Arteta side.
Brazilian winger Martinelli summed that up in just a few seconds during the first half.
Martinelli raced back to cover for left back Oleksandr Zinchenko, who had lost possession to Wolves right back Nelson Semedo.
Martinelli not only won the ball back but then found himself on the end of a sweeping attack, hitting the post having been picked out by Saka.
That desire and work rate was unbelievable to watch and Arteta raved about Martinelli after the final whistle.
Arteta told Arsenal’s official website that Martinelli did the exact same thing at London Colney on Friday, showing that work rate in training before putting it into the game.
Arteta called Martinelli’s work rate ‘incredible’ whilst hailing his mentality alongside some of his Arsenal teammates.
“To summarise it you have to see yesterday’s training session because he did exactly the same and I put the video of it because it’s incredible,” said Arteta. “The mentality and how much they want it and it was matchday plus two and minus one and they wanted to do it yesterday so I had no doubt that today they were going to do it,” he added.
Arteta won’t be worried by Martinelli numbers for Arsenal
Martinelli is still a vital part of the Arsenal side despite his attacking numbers taking something of a hit this season.
The 22-year-old has only managed one goal and two assists in 12 Premier League games this season putting him nowhere near last season’s tally of 15 goals.
Few would be surprised if Martinelli goes on a goalscoring run in the near future; he certainly has the ability to do that.
Arteta won’t be minded to drop Martinelli though as his work rate and speed on the break makes him so important.
The £6million wide man offers Arsenal so much even when he isn’t scoring goals and Saturday was a perfect example of that.
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