Gabriel Martinelli has hailed the impact new pal Gabriel Jesus has had not just on his own game but on everyone at Arsenal as well.
Jesus’s summer arrival from Manchester City has given the Gunners a goalscoring dimension they have not had for some time and that has given them some much-needed confidence.
But the Brazilian, a four-time Premier League winner, doesn’t just lead by example — he’s happy to pass on his experience to all the youngsters around him and they are flourishing for it. Martinelli said: “It means a lot to play with him and have the connection we do, I can learn a lot of things from him.
“He’s a very good guy and not just me but all the players are very happy with him. On and off the pitch he’s a great guy. He always tries to give advice to us — go in behind or come short to play. When he makes one movement, we do another one, so he always tries to help us with these details and they are so important.”
For some time, Arsenal fans were calling for Martinelli to be given a run in the side and boss Mikel Arteta resisted it, but this season he has started all 10 games and is impressing greatly in the attacking midfield three with Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka which operates just behind Jesus.
Martinelli added: “It couldn’t be better. That’s what I want: to play every single game and try to do my best to help the team. We are playing well and we need to keep the intensity we are putting in, we need to keep this mentality. It has been unbelievable being part of this front four.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Can Arsenal mount a title challenge? Let us know in the comments secction
“All of them are very good players. Me, Jesus, Odegaard… Fabio Vieira as well in the Europa League on Thursday, and the other players who are starting are big players and we have a very good team.”
Meanwhile, Arteta says his Arsenal side still has a long way to go before he can give his stars the same ‘mentality monsters’ moniker Jurgen Klopp has given to his men at Liverpool. Arsenal have won nine of their 10 games this season, including last weekend’s 3-1 win over arch-rivals Tottenham, and have started the season with huge confidence.
But Arteta said: “I can’t call them mentality monsters yet because we have to do that for a season, two seasons, three seasons, every three days, and we haven’t done that yet. I am very conscious we can get much better than we are today and there are a lot of aspects that we have to do better to be the team we want to be.”
