Mikel Arteta's tremendously talented young squad went into their Champions League match against Porto as firm favourites thanks to their imperious Premier League form.
However, their European inexperience showed through, and they left Portugal
empty-handed and stunned.
mikel-arteta-arsenal-premier-league
It was the sort of performance in which nobody comes out looking good, and while there's no single player to blame, there is one starter who should perhaps be rested for the visit of Newcastle United tonight.
Gabriel Martinelli's game vs Porto in numbers
The starter in question is Brazilian ace Gabriel Martinelli, who unfortunately put in an offensive performance that was noticeably poorer than his teammates, and while he's an undeniably gifted winger, it would make sense to start him on the bench against the Toon.
The former Ituano gem's display was not well received by watching journalists, with the Standard's Simon Collings and football.london's Kaya Kaynak giving him a 5/10 mact rating on the night, with the latter being particularly scathing and describing him as 'totally naive' for his mistake that led to the host's 94th-minute winner.
While potentially harsh, it is hard to disagree with either one when looking at the 22-year-old's statistics from the match.
For example, in his 94 minutes of action, he failed to have a single shot, succeeded in just four of his nine dribbles, misplaced eight of his 26 passes, lost 11 of his ground duels and, perhaps worst of all, lost 13 of his 21 total duels.
Gabriel Martinelli vs Porto
Minutes played
94
Goals
0
Assists
0
Expected Assists
0.01
Shots
0
Dribbles (Successful)
9 (4)
Accurate Passes
18/26 (69%)
Key Passes
0
Crosses (Accurate)
2 (0)
Ground Duels (won)
19 (8)
Aerial Duels (Won)
2 (0)
Possession Lost
27
Fouls
3
Stats via Sofascore.
At the end of the day, the left-wing "monster", as journalist Mark Mann-Bryans described him, is still an essential cog in Arteta's machine and will continue to be, but with a performance like that and a disappointing goal haul of just seven all season, he should be dropped for a game.
How Arteta can replace Martinelli
So, while it would make sense to take Martinelli out of the XI for a game or two, Arteta is left with a slight conundrum thanks to the seemingly ever-growing injury list in N5: who should start in his place?
Well, with the personnel the Spaniard has available to him, he should move Leandro Trossard back to his favoured position on the left, move Kai into the nine and bring Jorginho into midfield to start alongside Declan Rice, as he did against Liverpool.
Now, it's true that Trossard also had a poor game on Wednesday, but his recent record of four goals in his last five games, combined with the fact that he's overperforming his expected goals figure by 0.75, means he deserves to keep his place in the XI today.
Moreover, with Havertz playing as the striker to his right and pulling defenders away, the Belgian should find it easier to get into dangerous areas.
Lastly, the inclusion of Jorginho is an easy one to justify, as last time out, he put in a man-of-the-match performance against league leaders Liverpool and looked just as good when he started against the Toon last May - a performance GOAL's Charlie Watts gave him an 8/10 for.
Martinelli-Arsenal-Porto
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Ultimately, injuries at present slightly hamstring Arsenal, but there has to be a change to the team that played against Porto, and dropping Martinelli to facilitate Trossard, Havertz, and Jorginho is the change that should be made.
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