At times this season, Arsenal have needed the whole squad to chip in and play their part in a historic title race in the Premier League. While key stars such as Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba will be praised for their roles in the side, perhaps the understated role played by the likes of Reiss Nelson and Rob Holding will become clearer at the end of the campaign.
The recent signings and investment made into the Mikel Arteta have no doubt played a large part in this, with added squad depth allowing for quality involvement across all competitions. It has allowed for further rotation, such as Gabriel Martinelli's spell on the bench in February.
"It wasn’t dropping him - he’s played every single minute," explained the Arsenal manager after victory over Aston Villa. "We have three young players leading the front line.
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"Leo’s [Leandro Trossard] been doing really well and we needed impact. I was really worried about the last 20 or 25 minutes of this game because of everything we put in on Wednesday [against Manchester City]. We needed energy and Martinelli provided it."
However, it's in recent weeks that the Brazilian has hit a run of form that will have pleased Arteta and has made him truly undroppable once more. While praise may be heaped upon others in the front line, Martinelli's contribution is key in getting the Gunners to where they are now.
After his difficult spell in front of goal, the winger has now managed to record nine goal contributions in the last eight appearances in the league. This has equally coincided with Leandro Trossard and Jesus featuring up front after injury to Eddie Nketiah in the centre-forward role.
At such a young age, it remains to be seen exactly how far Martinelli can improve to reach the higher levels of the game, but his impact on the title race so far is clear and there's more to come ahead of the key run-in.
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