Arsenal fans spot the tactical change Mikel Arteta made against Manchester United – it didn’t pay off

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Mikel Arteta made a number of changes in Arsenal’s FA Cup defeat against Manchester United.

The absences of Bukayo Saka and Ethan Nwareni saw the Arsenal boss tweak his front three against the Red Devils, with the likes of Gabriel Jesus being tasked to fill the void.

One constant in the Gunners attack though was Gabriel Martinelli.

Despite being given numerous opportunities, the Brazilian has struggled to provide the goods so far this season, with Theo Walcott recently criticising Martinelli’s lack of output.

To combat this poor run of form, Arteta seemingly made a change to Martinelli’s position in Man Utd clash, in an attempt to get the best out of the 23-year-old.

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Arsenal fans spot Gabriel Martinelli tactical change vs Man Utd

Arteta would have thought his tactical change paid off when Arsenal took the lead in the 18th minute – Martinelli’s first-half goal though would be disallowed, after the youngster was deemed offside.

Having made a clever central run in behind the Manchester United defence, Arsenal fans spotted Martinelli’s more central position – something supporters were impressed by early on.

One fan said via X: “Martinelli needs to do more drifting inside into the CF position, like that.”

A third fan said: “Martinelli in a central position btw. Good finish raising it off the ground to avoid the keeper’s outstretched leg.”

“Loving Martinelli’s position,” another supporter added.

Martinelli’s stats vs Manchester United

Despite his impressive first-half performance – Martinelli really failed to make any sort of impact for the remainder of the game.

The darting runs in behind that were so effective early on seemed to disappear as the game wore on, with Brazilian positioned more out wide for the second half and extra time.

Moving forward, Gabriel Jesus’ injury against Man United means Martinelli must now step up to the plate with Arsenal’s aspirations now hanging in the balance.

Arteta’s tactical change shows he is trying to get the best out of Martinelli, whether the 23-year-old can repay his manager’s faith, is another question though.