Arsenal’s draw against Nottingham Forest was a punishing fixture for the majority of Mikel Arteta’s players.
The main talking point from the game was whether Arsenal should’ve had a penalty against Forest for Ola Aina’s handball in the box.
What really should’ve been the focus was how atrocious the Gunners were going forward, with no player as frustrating as Martinelli.
Martinelli proved how unreliable he is, as six days after his hat-trick against Portsmouth, the Brazilian had next to no finishing ability at the City Ground.
🤔 Use one word to summarise Gabriel Martinelli’s 2025/26 campaign… GO!
Gabriel Martinelli was Arsenal’s best and worst attacker against Nottingham Forest
Arsenal fans couldn’t work out why Arteta swapped his best wingers out for the must-win Premier League clash with Forest.
It was later revealed that Bukayo Saka had been carrying an injury, which is why Noni Madueke came in; however, Martinelli’s introduction remained unanswered.
It only took the Arsenal manager 45 minutes to realise that Martinelli was muddying the waters for the Gunners at the City Ground, but the 24-year-old’s performance was not all that it seemed by full-time.
Despite the winger being hooked at half-time, he proved himself to be Arsenal’s most influential attacker…somehow.
How? You’re no doubt asking.
Were there any positives to take from Gabriel Martinelli’s performance vs Forest?
Opta data revealed that no one had more shots than Martinelli in the match, and that the Brazilian had the second-highest number of touches in the opposition box among all players.
So, while Martinelli was abhorrently poor in the final third, his presence did trouble Forest, just not in the way that Arsenal needed it.
For the impact Martinelli had in the opening 45 minutes, he gets an A, but for his final product, the grade free-falls closer to an F, which sums up the 2019 signing to a tee.
Arsenal’s wingers are still a huge problem
It’s easy to say that Martinelli should be dropped, but the forward is part of a far bigger issue.
Arsenal have had problems in the wide areas for a few years now, as we saw in the summer of 2025 and 2024.
The issue is that nothing has changed, as recruitment in that department has been abysmal.
What player does Andrea Berta sign next to improve this list?
Edu Gaspar’s panic-signing of Raheem Sterling was a disaster that left the void unfilled, and the same happened this summer, as Madueke isn’t the world-class winger Arsenal ultimately needed.
What we saw against Forest was one of Arteta’s biggest unsolved problems: having two wingers step in for the two best options, only to fail miserably.
Something has to give, with all eyes on what Andrea Berta and Arteta conjure up in the summer.
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