Gabriel Martinelli has been recognised for his fantastic efforts at Arsenal following the Gunners' win over Fulham. The 21-year-old doubled the Gunners' lead at Craven Cottage, rising above Antonee Robinson to nod the ball past Bernd Leno.
He has scored 12 goals in the Premier League this season and now leads the north London outfits' top scorer charts, leapfrogging Bukayo Saka (11). But, Martinelli's effort against Fulham is far more remarkable than it seems — the Brazil international has now netted 23 goals for Arsenal in the Premier League, equalling Nicolas Anelka's total for the club while aged 21 or under.
That's according to OptaJoe, who also noted that the winger now only trails Saka by four goals in the aforementioned bracket. As Martinelli continues to impress for Arsenal, he has been subject to comparisons with Neymar.
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Appearing on talkSPORT, Darren Bent argued that he would rather the Gunners forward than the Paris Saint-Germain star. The former Aston Villa star said: "Right now, I’d rather have Martinelli because Neymar is out for the season.
"But even if he wasn’t, I like our squad now so I’m sticking with Martinelli. Neymar in his pomp is unbelievable, but there are just times where things don’t fit.
"When you look at the games he’s played, he’s played 20, 17, 15, 18, 22 and 20 [matches]. He’s always injured. I know he’s world-class and I’d have him as a squad player but he doesn’t walk into anyone’s starting XI."
Despite Martinelli's record-breaking goal against Fulham, Arteta showered Leandro Trossard with praise instead. The former Brighton star, arrived from the Amex Stadium in January for £21million, recorded a hat-trick of assists at Craven Cottage.
"When we talk about composure and finding the right pass and finding the right colour when it’s looking really blurry in the box, he’s the opposite," the Arsenal boss said. "He got three assists and could have scored two. I think he was really impressive.
"Not only that, he had an injury three days ago which could have taken a week, or another 10 days, but he was really willing to come back early and the doctors and medical staff did a lot of good work to get that. It makes a big difference in the team. We needed him today and his contribution was superb."
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