Only eight short minutes passed between Gabriel Martinelli’s emergence off the bench and his close-range finish to put Arsenal ahead against Southampton at the Emirates on Saturday.
His impact demonstrated Mikel Arteta’s shrewd decision-making to bring on the right player at the right time, but it also showcased the strength in depth in attacking areas that the Gunners now have at their disposal.
The ability to rotate and change it up in attack has proven key for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in their six league titles in seven years. Countless times, Guardiola has turned to the bench to turn a match on its head.
Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Southampton showed the same could be true for them this season, in their bid to finally get over the line after two campaigns as close runners-up to City.
Arteta rang the changes by dropping the in-form Kai Havertz into midfield, starting Gabriel Jesus up front, and handing a first league start in Arsenal colours to Raheem Sterling. The Gunners head coach said of the displays from Jesus and Sterling: “I was very happy.”
It says something about their quality forward options that Arteta did not start Leandro Trossard or Martinelli and still his line-up would have struck fear into Southampton.
The score was level, though, when Arteta turned to the substitutes “because the energy had to be changed”. After 60 minutes, on came Martinelli. On 68 minutes, he put the Gunners ahead for the first time in the match.
Martinelli and Trossard added a directness to Arsenal for the final half-hour, with Trossard’s run into open space eventually leading to Bukayo Saka making sure of all three points.
Healthily, Arteta hopes his team can be less reliant on Saka playing almost every minute this season.
“We have taken him off a few times this season,” said Arteta. “We have to manage the load of him, but at the moment he’s in a good place.”
He certainly is, with two assists and a goal against Southampton.
More broadly, Arsenal are in a good place as well.
“Something has changed in Kai Havertz” this season, according to Arteta, and it would be hard to argue otherwise.
Havertz is a genuine goal threat, and has netted in every home game this season - even on Saturday when deployed in midfield to accommodate Jesus.
With Martin Odegaard still to come back from injury and Mikel Merino getting up to speed in midfield, as well as the gradual integration of 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, Arteta has never had so much quality to choose from in five years in the job.
Tricky moments will come this season, and the ability to change things up is crucial for title hopefuls. City have it. Now so do Arsenal, and they will hope to keep reaping the rewards.
