Arsenal fans have spent so long wishing for a team that’s capable of competing for the title. It seems they have a regular pattern of assembling a good team, only for the best players to be picked off and having to start again.
It’s easy to see why they might get a bit impatient, but the club’s strategy of signing and developing young talents has worked for a long time now. There wasn’t much expected of Gabriel Martinelli when he signed in the summer, but he’s started to show he could make an impact for the first team already.
He was excellent against Liverpool last night and has seven goals for the club already. He’s yet to break his duck in the Premier League but that can only be a matter of time.
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As European Champions and being top of the Premier League, some will legitimately argue that Liverpool are the best team in the world right now. Even if they aren’t, it’s fair to say that Jurgen Klopp knows what he’s talking about when it comes to talented players.
His interview with the Liverpool website was mainly talking about his own team, but he went out of his way to heap praise on Martinelli which should come as some comfort to Gunners fans.
Klopp said: “That’s really difficult to deal with these guys. Martinelli’s pretty much the same age but he’s a talent of the century, he’s an incredible striker, so it’s really difficult.”
Obviously the fans will be disappointed to exit a winnable competition in The Carabao Cup, but if they ended the season only winning that competition then there would still be calls for Emery’s head, so it can’t be that important.
At least it seems they have a legitimate wonder-kid in Martinelli, hopefully he goes on to show he can do it in the league soon.