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Ian Wright believes Arsenal would have actually beaten Man City had one player started
Ian Wright has suggested that he genuinely believes that Arsenal would have won against Manchester City on Sunday had one player actually started.
Mikel Arteta’s men appear to have mixed feelings after the stalemate at the weekend. Of course, Arsenal missed the chance to return to the top of the Premier League table. And they may feel that they missed an opportunity to take advantage of a depleted City squad.
However, Arsenal made a statement in how comfortable they appeared in the draw. David Raya certainly did not have a lot to do. And Arteta appeared to devise a plan that nullified much of the threat the champions carried.
Nevertheless, there were moments which will have left Arsenal wondering what could have been, particularly after Gabriel Martinelli gave them a dramatic victory in a similarly-cagey affair in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
Ian Wright thinks Arsenal would’ve beaten Manchester City with one player starting
Martinelli came on during the latter stages at the Etihad Stadium. The Brazilian missed the win over Brentford and did not go off on international duty. So it was not entirely surprising that he did not play a prominent role against City.
Speaking on , Ian Wright suggested that he believes that the scoreline may have been different had Martinelli been ready to start.
“Today was just fantastic in the way that we all stayed very disciplined with what we’re doing. Can I be honest? If Martinelli’s playing that game, I think we win that game,” he said.
“I genuinely do, because some of the times, we were playing so deep and I was thinking, okay, we’ve got Saka all the way back, Jesus was all the way back there, I’m thinking okay they’re doing that job to make sure that they stifle everywhere that they try to come in.
“But I was looking at us. We were so low in respect of getting out of our third that I was thinking we’re going to be in trouble here. Can we keep this up? Simply because it seemed like such a long way to go without someone like Martinelli, who looks to do that, and they will know he looks to do that. So they’ll try and give us a little bit more space to deal with Martinelli. So I was pleased to see him come on because it makes Man City have to think of something totally different.”
Gabriel Martinelli has a big role to play in run-in
Gabriel Jesus had a mixed day on the left. Gary Neville lauded Jesus’ work-rate in helping Jakub Kiwior defensively. But there was also criticism for how poor Jesus was in the final third.
Martinelli and Bukayo Saka have formed one of the most impressive winger partnerships in world football right now. They are so dangerous, because when it seems that one is being contained, the other steps up and produces a moment of magic.
It was Martinelli who settled the game last time. And he had scored four goals in the seven league appearances before he missed the win over Brentford.
He often exploits those spaces which the likes of Jesus and Kai Havertz help to create. So it would be massive for Arsenal if he was able to stave off injury during the run-in.