Gabriel Martinelli, an Arsenal attacker, has been out of form in recent weeks.
Arsenal news: Gabriel Martinelli has struggled when playing alongside Oleksandr Zinchenko
Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli may well have a team-mate to blame for his barren form. Oleksandr Zinchenko has been a superb signing by Mikel Arteta but it may have had a negative impact on Martinelli’s output.
Zinchenko is like no other left-back. The Ukraine star plays almost as a midfielder, drifting inside the middle of the pitch.
It is very rare that he would overlap Martinelli, who operates down the left-hand side of attack. Granit Xhaka instead does that role but not to the extent that some left-backs would.
Martinelli therefore is often isolated and opposition teams can double up on him to thwart his impact on a game. A quick glance at the average position of the Arsenal players in their defeat to Everton on Saturday shows how little support Martinelli gets from Zinchenko.
It is a different story on the other side of the pitch. Ben White, despite being a natural centre-back, is comfortable enough to give Bukayo Saka regular support down the right.
White and Saka have built up a good relationship this season and have helped each other thrive. But, as of yet, Martinelli is not totally comfortable with the role he is asked to play.
It is not a mistake what Zinchenko is doing. Arteta is asking him to play inverted and to bring an extra body into the midfield.
However, it is not getting the best out of Martinelli, who has scored just twice in his last eight league appearances and his overall performances have been down. The Brazilian’s goal output is far less when Zinchenko is on the pitch compared to Kieran Tierney or Takehiro Tomiyasu, who played a few games at left-back earlier in the season.
Martinelli has scored seven goals this term, but only two have been when Zinchenko has been on the pitch. They both came in the first two Premier League matches of the season against Crystal Palace and Leicester.
It appears opposition teams have noticed a way of stopping Martinelli when Zinchenko is playing and he has been unable to combat that as of yet. Zinchenko has started 12 of Arsenal’s 20 league games, with Tierney and Tomiyasu having four each to their names.
Arsenal news: Oleksandr Zinchenko is different to most left-backs (Image: GETTY)
But despite playing much fewer minutes with Tierney, Martinelli has scored three goals when the Scot has been on the pitch, one more than with Zinchenko. He has netted the same amount when Tomiyasu played at left-back than he has with the former City star.
Tierney is a natural left-back and is far more inclined to make wide attacking runs and overlap his winger. Tomiyasu less so, but certainly more than Zinchenko.
Martinelli is going nowhere, having just signed a new long-term contract. Zinchenko is also set for a long spell in north London having already become a fan favourite.
But Arteta must find a way to get the pair to work better together. Martinelli has all the raw ingredients to become a superstar, now he needs to adapt to this fresh challenge he faces.
source: www.mirror.co.uk
