Arsenal have started the 2023/24 season really well.
The Gunners are unbeaten in all competitions so far and are currently third in the Premier League table, just a point off the top.
A number of Mikel Arteta’s players have performed brilliantly in the first 10 games, but there have been a few who haven’t reached their best level yet.
Darren Bent is absolutely convinced that one such Arsenal player is about to explode.
Darren Bent makes a prediction about Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli
On his day, Gabriel Martinelli is one of Arsenal’s best players.
The Brazilian showed that in the 2022/23 season by scoring 15 goals and providing five assists in 36 Premier League games. He was outstanding that season.
However, in the following campaign, Martinelli struggled with form and injuries, and could only manage eight goals in all competitions.
The 23-year-old had a difficult start to this season as well. Martinelli came under some criticism early on in the campaign – things just weren’t working for him.
However, in recent weeks, Martinelli has gotten a lot better, and he has looked much more like his usual self in the final third.
Bent, who knows a thing or two about being an attacker, has had his say on how big confidence is for a player. When you’re not confident, your performance is just not the same.
That’s what happened with Martinelli, but now, Bent has predicted that the Brazilian will be ‘flying’ by Christmas because he is confident again.
He said on the Inside Gooners show on talkSPORT: “That’s the biggest thing – confidence! In any footballer, it doesn’t matter where you play, what level you play, if you haven’t got the confidence, then your performances are going to drop.
“When he hit the 15, he was magnificent. But, can you back it up again? Because to go two seasons with those amount of goals and those amount of assists is difficult to do. His confidence took a knock by him not getting to those numbers.
“He is working his way back, but you can see the confidence now slowly starting to come back. I believe by Christmas time, he will be absolutely flying. His confidence will be flying, the numbers will be there, and it will be the Martinelli of old.”
The reason behind Martinelli’s improvement and why he’ll be even better
Martinelli will be the first one to admit that he didn’t have a great campaign last season, but it’s not entirely his fault.
The best left-hand side the Gunners have had under Arteta is a trio of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Granit Xhaka and Martinelli. That was in the 2022/23 season, when the Brazilian scored 15 league goals.
For the most part last season, Martinelli had either one or two right-footers behind him on the left side, and that made it incredibly difficult for him.
Now, since Riccardo Calafiori has come into the team, Martinelli has looked so much more effective on the left flank. He is slowly getting back to his best.
After the international break, we think he will be even better because Mikel Merino is expected to slot into the role Xhaka played two years ago.
That would make Arsenal’s left-hand side incredible again, and like Bent, we expect Martinelli to be flying by Christmas.
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