Leandro Trossard has been the perfect January transfer addition for Arsenal since his arrival in winter. Looked at initially as the backup plan after a failed attempt to land Mykhailo Mudryk who then moved to Chelsea, the Belgian has been brilliant since the move.
Trossard recorded his seventh assist at the weekend after setting up Gabriel Jesus for his second goal of the game in the 4-1 win over Leeds United. Gabriel Martinelli was seen initially as the former Brighton man’s main competition, however, injuries and illness have allowed the fair to play together.
Trossard has assisted Martinelli in multiple games including the sole winning goal in the 1-0 win over Leicester City. He also found the winger with a cross in the victory at Craven Cottage when the Belgian chipped in with a hat-trick of assists.
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However, it was the Belgian’s service to Jesus for the game's third goal at the weekend that Martinelli should look to as a lesson. Although initially, it looks as though Trossard plays the ball hoping a teammate will run on it, before he twists back toward a goal you can see him check his shoulder to spot the run of Jesus.
This is an area that Martinelli should be looking to develop. In the opening stages of the game, the Brazilian had a chance to run at the Leeds defence, getting into a characteristically familiar position close to the opposition goal line however, as has occurred on many an occasion, the young wide man overplayed the ball and dribbled it harmlessly out of play.
In the move, he failed to look up to see where his teammates were. An appropriate criticism of these frequent similar moments would be that Martinelli too often runs in a blinkered fashion with his head down. Trossard has learned from experience to look for his colleagues and, unsurprisingly, he has more than six years on Martinelli, demonstrating that this will be a trait that develops with time.
Although he has 13 goals, Martinelli has just three assists, less than half of what Trossard has contributed having only arrived in January. Bukayo Saka has ten, Martin Odegaard has eight and Gabriel Jesus, whose missed half the season, has double that of his international teammate.
Martinelli can undoubtedly become more collaborative with his play and the positions he gets into are already brilliant with the scope to further the club’s goal output. Scoring three, four and even five in games this season could become more regular with this slight tweak to improve Martinelli’s game courtesy again of Trossard; yet another “assist” for the arguable signing of the season.
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