Arsenal will look to maintain their position on the Premier League summit when they travel to the King Power Stadium this afternoon to face Leicester City and continue their exceptional campaign.
Manchester City, who sit one place and two points behind the league leaders, face Bournemouth away this evening and could return to the front of the pack should the Gunners drop points, although Mikel Arteta’s side hold a game in hand on the current champions.
The north Londoners will be wary of the Foxes, who got their bite back after initially struggling this season. Before losing to Manchester United 3-0 last Sunday, when Brendan Rodgers’ team performed admirably despite the result, they enjoyed successive four-goal hauls in wins against Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa. Arsenal will need to be wary of that danger, having failed to keep a clean sheet across their past six outings.
While Arteta will have faith in his defence, the best strategy might be to meet fire with fire and utilise the attacking vigour that he has in abundance within the Gunners’ squad. As such, Gabriel Martinelli must be given centre-stage this afternoon.
Should Arteta unleash Martinelli v Leicester?
In the reverse fixture between these teams this season, Arsenal clinched an emphatic 4-2 victory in the early weeks of the campaign in August and demonstrated their burgeoning collective strength, paving the foundation for the title challenge.
While £45m summer signing Gabriel Jesus rightfully stole the headlines after scoring two goals and setting up the other two for his team, his fleet-footed compatriot was exceptional in his wide play on the left, complementing a fine performance with the concluding goal of that triumph.
As per Sofascore, only Jesus bettered Martinelli’s rating on the afternoon, with the latter having completed 92% of his passes, made four key passes, created one big chance and succeeded with 60% of his attempted dribbles.
Industrious Foxes midfielder Youri Tielemans, whose contract is set to expire at the end of the campaign and has piqued the Gunners’ interest, simply could not get close to the 21-year-old. The Belgian failed to make a single tackle, interception or clearance at the Emirates Stadium that day and contested just one ground duel, picking up a lowly 6.4 Sofascore rating as a consequence.
For someone who is normally so influential – Tielemans is Leicester’s second-best performer this season according to Sofascore – to be muzzled to such an extent illustrates how commendably his opponent performed on that afternoon.
Despite the calibre of the Belgium international, Martinelli will hope to add to his eight league goals and two assists from 22 outings this season, having netted off the bench against Aston Villa last time out.
Considering that he ranks among the top 5% of attacking midfielders for touches in the attacking box and top 18% for progressive carries per 90 among Europe’s five main leagues, Tielemans and his team-mates will have their work cut out in trying to hinder the unrelenting Martinelli.
Leicester certainly possess an attacking threat, but their backline has been flimsy as plywood on multiple occasions this term, their tally of 41 goals conceded the second-worst in the top flight.
Given the Gunners’ robust firepower (51 league goals, second-highest in the division), they should be able to bypass the Foxes’ threat and secure another resounding victory to continue their surge towards a potenteial Premier League title.
Martinelli, who left Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp waxing lyrical and proclaiming him a “talent of the century” in 2021, can play an integral role in ensuring that Arsenal’s upward trajectory continues.
