The up-and-down nature of Arsenal’s campaign this season has been on full display over the last seven days.
Mikel Arteta’s side dropped two points in the Premier League in an incredibly disappointing 1-1 draw away to Fulham on Sunday afternoon, only to go and smash AS Monaco 3-0 in the Champions League four days later.
The Gunners’ next test is a must-win home game against Everton, who have looked very beatable this season but demolished Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 last time out and had an extra week of rest thanks to the cancellation of the Merseyside derby last weekend.
So, to ensure his side pick up all three points, Arteta must make some bold selection decisions, such as dropping Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard to start someone in a new role.
Martinelli & Trossard's form
So, while a few Arsenal players are struggling to find form at the moment, two of the most prominent ones are Martinelli and Trossard.
The latter started against Fulham and offered precisely nothing in attack and even less in defence, and when the former came on to replace him, he was somehow even worse, venturing offside for what should have been the winner and then trying to start a scrap with Kenny Tete while the team were fighting for a win.
Potentially in an attempt to play him back into form, Arteta opted to start him against Monaco on Wednesday, but unfortunately, that plan did not work as, once again, the Brazilian was seemingly trying his best to get sent off and missed a golden opportunity in the first half, earning himself a damning but fair 5/10 match rating from the Standard’s Malik Ouzia at full-time.
The Belgian was marginally better when he came on, although that was because he was less intent on getting booked, as during his 26 minutes on the pitch, he failed to have much of an impact, failing with 100% of his dribbles and crosses.
In all, Martinelli has amassed a mediocre tally of four goals and three assists in 21 games this season, while Trossard has fared even worse in this regard and has just four goals and two assists in as many games, which is a far cry from the 19 goal involvements he produced in just 46 games last year.
So, with all that said, it’s clear that Arteta needs to make a change on the left going into this afternoon’s game, as at the moment, teams only need to worry about the right-hand side.
The Arsenal player who should start on the left
While there may be some of you calling for Raheem Sterling to get a rare start this afternoon, that is not the player we are thinking of, as, at this point, it has become quite clear that Arteta does not trust the Chelsea loanee.
Instead, he could make the bold decision to start Gabriel Jesus out wide.
Now, before the pitchforks come out, we know that the Brazilian has looked really poor in his short cameos this season and missed a couple of chances against Fulham and Monaco, but that was as a central striker, not out wide.
It has become painfully apparent that the former Manchester City ace cannot finish his dinner anymore and is, therefore, incredibly ineffective as a central striker.
However, he still has reasonable movement and the desire to take opponents on, and was the one who squared the ball to Bukayo Saka to open the scoring on Wednesday night.
Appearances
66
Goals
21
Assists
14
Goal Involvements per Match
0.53
Moreover, while he’s only made six appearances off the left for Arsenal, his record from the wings is actually quite impressive.
For example, in 66 appearances as a winger, the 27-year-old “game-changer”, as dubbed by Alan Shearer, has scored 21 goals and provided 14 assists, which equates to a goal involvement every 1.88 games, which is a rate of return that could make a real difference to Arteta’s side at the moment.
Ultimately, moving Jesus out to the left cannot and should not be Arsenal’s long-term solution, but with Martinelli and Trossard continuing to underwhelm this season, Arteta needs to try something, and this may be his best option.
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