Gabriel Martinelli scored a brace in Arsenal's win over Everton despite Ian Wright claiming the Brazilian is struggling without Gabriel Jesus.
The former Manchester City man was a marquee signing back in the summer for the Gunners. Jesus made an immediate impact, leading the line effectively and helping Arsenal establish themselves as Premier League title challengers before his injury, which has sidelined him for months.
He, Martinelli and Bukayo Saka had formed a potent front three, but Wright felt as if Martinelli was struggling without his compatriot. The 21-year-old has now scored in his last three games, taking his season tally into double figures and making a mockery of Wright's comments.
"Arsenal are straining every sinew right now to stay in front [of Manchester City]," the former Gunner turned pundit recently told Premier League Productions. "Yes, we have Jesus coming back which will then hopefully fire up Martinelli even more because our left-hand side has missed Jesus.
"Jesus would interchange with Martinelli, and he would get inside and we would get a little bit more going on our left side. That has been a bit redundant even though Martinelli has scored some goals, he’s had to come off the bench to do that. It feels like a whole side of Arsenal is not working.
"And once that comes back maybe we could start scoring more goals again and getting those goals and chances that we need to score, just to give us a bit more breathing space in the game because I don’t think from now on in Man City are going to relent."
With Jesus absent Arteta has turned to January signing Leandro Trossard, who has played in a false nine role. The former Brighton man again took up that position in the 4-0 success over Everton and the Gunners boss sees that Trossard and Martinelli are beginning to combine impressively.
He said: "I think relationships are built in teams and that chemistry comes naturally, and when you see him play with Fabio more together, he has even more chemistry because they love each other so much, and they have that way of looking at each other and understanding what’s going to have.
"He’s also building that with Leandro and he’s feeling a bit more freedom to move into certain areas, and now his confidence is high again. He’s scoring goals, he’s assisting goals and he’s in a good mood."
