Magnificent Martinelli
At what point do we stop referring to players as among the best young players in the Premier League and just simply describe them as the best players in the Premier League. For Gabriel Martinelli it may well have been Sunday.
You know you have reached an elite status of talent, when your mere presence sends shudders of panic into the opposition defence. From the first minute, Trent Alexander-Arnold was a whirling dervish of stress, anxiously twisting and turning his body position to try and track the Brazilian's out-to-in run for the first goal.
This early trauma resounded throughout the whole first half as Alexander-Arnold, with his head still spinning, vacated his central position to desperately try and help Jordan Henderson close Martinelli down, only to create space for him to cross to Bukayo Saka to tap home a second. This is how terrified teams are of Martinelli right now.
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Even when Joe Gomez came on at half time, the relentless attacking down the left hand side continued, and the build up the game-winning penalty won by Gabriel Jesus came from Martinelli's slid through ball to Granit Xhaka. Arsenal recognised the superiority he was giving them on the left and channelled nearly half (41% as per fbRef) of their attacks down that flank to seize upon it.
This campaign of terror that Martinelli is wreaking on the league isn't exactly anything new as he's been doing it all season, but to truly be talked about among the league's best, you got the feeling the Brazilian would need to add a heavyweight scalp to his list of victims. After the game, Mikel Arteta was effusive in his praise for how the 21-year-old had managed to make the step up on such a big occasion.
"He’s a great player," the Spaniard began in his post-match press conference. "I think today he had an outstanding performance against a top defender and a top team and he made a difference in the game as well as the other players. That’s the next level, to step up in these games and make things happen to win it."
Of course, now the conversation turns to trying to ensure that Martinelli continues to do this in an Arsenal shirt. The Brazilian's current contract expires in 2024, although football.london understands that Arsenal retain the option to trigger an extension of two years on that deal. After a performance like Sunday's they would be mad not to take it.
In defence of Gabriel Magalhaes
In and among all the positivity there seems to be a small sentiment bubbling under that Gabriel is evolving into something of a liability for this Arsenal side. It does seem curious that even on a day when the Gunners have claimed possibly their most impressive result in recent memory that this is what plenty across social media looked to focus on, but before this criticism starts to gather too much momentum, let's just step on the brakes for a second.
The negativity appears to have developed from the perception that the Brazilian has been more error prone than the rest of his defensive teammates this season. There was the mistake against Fulham that allowed Aleksandar Mitrovic to score, the concession of a penalty against Tottenham and on Sunday his loose touch was a big part of the build up to Darwin Nunez's goal.
Firstly it's worth pointing out that had Nunez not been in an offside position then Gabriel may not have needed to make such an intervention, but to focus solely on errors the Brazilian may have made feels harsh. William Saliba, who has rightly earned nothing but praise this season, has also been at fault on a few occasions. His own goal against Leicester came from poor positioning, he was arguably out of position again for Manchester United's third goal at Old Trafford, while his body positioning for Roberto Firmino's goal against Liverpool was poor.
This is not to try and suggest that the Frenchman should be coming in for criticism at all, but rather to state that every member of this Arsenal back line has and will make mistakes across the course of the season.
The very nature of Mikel Arteta's tactics mean that his centre-backs are extremely exposed at most times due to the high line that they play. Gabriel is left open in particular as the full back he has been partnered with for the most part - be it Oleksandr Zinchenko or Kieran Tierney - has been instructed to get forward in a manner that leaves him defending essentially two positions. The position where he had the most actions on the pitch last season was the wide left zone of the pitch and it has been the same this time around.
To cope with that level of responsibility requires levels of athleticism that few defenders in the world possess. He is constantly placed in one-vs-one duels and it is impossible to expect him to come out on top in all of them.
On top of that, a narrative appears to be developing that Gabriel is poor in possession. While he is not prone to the eyecatching moments of composure that a Saliba often shows, he is quietly effective on the ball. He has a 90.9% pass success rate that is bettered only by Saliba (93.2%) this season, and while you might argue this suggests he is cautious in possession, only Ben White has progressed the ball into the final third more often among the Arsenal squad this campaign.
Perhaps it's due to the serenity of Saliba's excellence that Gabriel's more animated playing style inspires a sense of unease among some of the Arsenal fanbase right now. They see two completely different characters and assume that because Saliba is playing so well, Gabriel's contrasting personality must mean he's playing badly. The best partnerships are built on variety. Tony Adams was the smooth ball player while Martin Keown was the more in your face animal of a defender. It was a similar blend when Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure guided Arsenal Invincibles glory or when Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker partnered them to FA Cup success.
Make no mistake, Gabriel is by no means perfect. The penalty conceded last week against Spurs was an example of the moments of rashness he can be prone to, while he does have something of a superhero complex at times when it comes to wanting to deal with every problem that he sees by himself. But suggestions that he is a problem in this Arsenal side are, for now at least, some way wide of the mark. If this is him in a bad run of form, then bring on the hot streak that's to come.
Arsenal do it their way
Given Arsenal's woeful record against Liverpool it might be strange to think, but they have actually beaten Liverpool at the Emirates relatively recently in the Premier League. During Mikel Arteta's first half season in charge goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson were enough to claim a shock 2-1 victory against the already crowned champions of that season in a behind closed doors match in July 2020. Different day, same result, but why does this win feel so much better?
Well, the simple answer is Arsenal beat Liverpool their way.
That day Arteta fielded a five at the back who took advantage of two individual errors from Alisson and Virgil van Dijk before proceeding to defend for their lives for the remainder of the game. Sunday's match could not have been more different.
This was made obvious by the team Arteta wanted to go for. With Oleksandr Zinchenko out, the Spaniard could probably have trusted Kieran Tierney to do a decent enough job of nullifying the threat of Mohamed Salah down Liverpool's right. Instead though, he wanted more.
The more two-footed and technically proficient Takehiro Tomiyasu was chosen instead for what he would offer Arsenal in the build up to amplify Arsenal's strengths rather than blindly fearing those of the opposition. The message was clear. Arsenal were not coming into this game with any hint of an inferiority complex.
The Gunners carried this mentality into the match and, save for a period in the first half where they sat for too deep, they went toe-to-toe with their elite opposition. Whereas in previous matches against Jurgen Klopp's side they have been swept away in the hurricane of Liverpool's heavy metal high press, on Sunday they kept their composure to navigate the storm with relative serenity.
If there was one player who exemplified this ambitious approach it was Ben White. The 24-year-old is ostensibly a centre-back playing out of position and could have been forgiven for being cautious in his positioning to deal with the threat of Luis Diaz and then Diogo Jota. Instead though, as his heatmap below shows, he spent the majority of the game in the Liverpool half and was often the sixth man in Arsenal's extremely aggressive attack that outscored their opponents on expected goals by 2.82 to 0.77 (as per understat).
This approach requires an immense bravery that would have been unimaginable just over two years ago. After the game Arteta praised his side for the psychological steps they had taken in that time. "That’s when the feeling of winning is so powerful and meaningful today," he said in his post-match press conference. "I see a team I can identify with and the feeling that they stick to what they have to do and at the same time they have the courage to just go for it, and attack them and put them under pressure."
Whereas two years ago it felt like a one-off, Arsenal's new found belief in their ability to play their own football against any opposition means that this victory feels sustainable. This is what true progress looks like.
How far does this go?
So with that mentality in their back pocket, how far can this Arsenal side go. It's a question that we seem to be asking every week now, and each time Mikel Arteta gives the same answer.
"For me, I’m not going to be mentioning it," he said when asked when the Gunners could start talking about a title race. "You’re not going to hear it from me. We’re happy where we are and let’s try to continue to be there."
This is probably a sensible policy right now as Arteta tries to prevent his side from getting high on their own supply. But it is hard to resist an alluring glance into what the future might hold.
Many have made comparisons to the Leicester City season of 2015/16 where the Foxes took advantage of a power vacuum created by a division in transition to stun the footballing world and claim Premier League success. With Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and to a lesser extent Tottenham all unsure of themselves at present, a gap does appear to be emerging that a team with a clear sense of identity could fill. Arsenal have that in buckets, and like Claudio Ranieri's team, they have a snowballing momentum on their side.
But with the money the Gunners have spent and the sustainable manner of their play, the comparisons probably end there. We are only nine games into the season, and while the impending threat of Manchester City's excellence hangs over Arsenal's table-topping form like the sword of Damocles, it is impossible to get too carried away.
As an Erling Haaland-led City side hunt down top spot with Terminator-like relentlessness there will be little the Gunners can do to stop them should one of their key players like Gabriel Jesus, Thomas Partey or Aaron Ramsdale be absent for a prolonged period of time. There is no shame in that though. If they qualify for the Champions League this season, then as far as Arteta and Edu's project is concerned everything else is a bonus. So instead of getting too concerned by title talk just now, let's enjoy a team playing the best football they have in decades and hope it continues for as long as possible.
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