Mikel Arteta opted for a strong line-up for Arsenal’s clash with Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
The Spaniard selected the likes of Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard from the start against the Cherries, despite the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie being on Wednesday.
PSG await Arsenal in midweek at the Parc des Princes, with that game surely the primary focus for Arteta and his team.
One star enjoyed an impressive preparation match for the European showdown, putting in an eye-catching display that he’ll hope to replicate in the French capital.
Arsenal fans praise Gabriel Martinelli for Bournemouth performance
Gabriel Martinelli started over Raheem Sterling on the left wing for Arsenal, and the Brazilian looked sharp against the south coast outfit.
Constantly willing to take on his full-back and use his electric pace to cause a threat to the Bournemouth back-line, the Gunners faithful were encouraged by what they saw from Martinelli.
One fan wrote on X: “Martinelli been great so far. Always trying.”
Another noted that the player was taking up more central positions: “Wonderful play. Martinelli at CF inspires me more.”
Meanwhile, one supporter added, simply: “Martinelli….I’m moved.”
Another fan wrote: “Martinelli’s doing well at finding Rice today.”
Gabriel Martinelli was taking up central positions against Bournemouth
While a lot of his good work involved him taking on Julian Araujo, driving to the byline and producing accurate cut-backs and crosses, Martinelli was also taking up more central positions.
With Trossard often peeling out to the left, that left space for Martinelli to exploit centrally in the box, and he looked to do that frequently.
Some excellent diagonal runs in behind weren’t found by some of his teammates, although when the midfielders did look for him in these channels, he looked threatening.
Arteta has to try and get the 23-year-old into these areas more frequently to maximise the player’s greatest attributes.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
