Forget Gyokeres, 15-touch Arsenal star was much worse vs Liverpool and must now be dropped by Mikel Arteta

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Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season at Anfield on Sunday, beaten 1-0 by a resolute Liverpool side.

A moment of magic decided what was a cagey game, with Dominik Szoboszlai stepping up to score a stunning free-kick in the 89th minute.

The Gunners pushed for an equaliser late on, calling upon the likes of Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze from the bench, but were ultimately unable to generate a high-quality chance to draw level.

The result sees Liverpool move three points clear of Arsenal after three matches.

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Gabriel Martinelli was poor for Arsenal vs Liverpool

Viktor Gyokeres has received criticism for his performance against Liverpool.

The Swede was unable to get into the game frequently enough and ultimately made little impact on Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.

That said, the Gunners’ new number nine was certainly not Arsenal’s worst player on the pitch on the afternoon.

Gabriel Martinelli was non-existent for Mikel Arteta’s team, providing the North London outfit with very little attacking threat down the left wing.

The Brazilian was selected for defensive reasons, to help cover Riccardo Calafiori against Mohamed Salah, and he fulfilled this duty diligently.

However, Arteta would’ve expected more than just this from him and would’ve hoped that the speedy wide man would be able to cause Szoboszlai some issues going forward.

The Hungarian was deployed at right-back by Arne Slot in Jeremie Frimpong’s absence, and Martinelli was unable to exploit the Liverpool man’s lack of pace or defensive capabilities.

Instead, he was intimidated by the covering Konate on several occasions and was eventually replaced by Eze in the second half.

Gabriel Martinelli’s statistics vs Liverpool

It was another day to forget for Martinelli.

The Brazil international is quickly falling out of favour at Arsenal, with Arteta likely to call upon the likes of Eze and Noni Madueke on this side ahead of him in the future.

Managing just 15 touches and completing just six passes in his 70 minutes on the pitch, he was peripheral throughout.

Arteta certainly could have forgiven Martinelli for this lack of consistent involvement if he’d produced some note-worthy moments in the final third.

However, he certainly didn’t, completing no crosses, taking no shots and creating no chances for his teammates.

Eze has to start against Nottingham Forest after the international break on the left wing.