Time for Mikel Arteta to axe misfiring Gabriel Martinelli for Leandro Trossard: Arsenal's 'little magician' is not just a super-sub

There are those that believe that Trossard's best role is 'impact sub'; that he isn't as effective as a starter. It's pure rubbish. Whether deployed on the left wing or through the middle, he's rarely let his team down. On the contrary, he's usually stepped up to the mark.

When Martinelli's form fell off a cliff at the tail end of last season, Arteta began picking Trossard on the left flank instead of the Brazilian - who didn't contribute either a goal or an assist in Arsenal's final 10 Premier League fixtures - and the Belgium international played a pivotal role in the Gunners' taking the title race right to the wire.

Trossard scored four times in five games between April 20 and May 12 alone, with his fine form prompting Hollywood star Anne Hathaway to declare her "love" for a player that Arteta described as "a little magician".

Given the stark contrast with the way in which Martinelli's 2023-24 campaign had concluded, Trossard was perfectly entitled to think that he would begin the new season as Arteta's first-choice left winger. However, he saw just 10 minutes of game time in the opening-weekend win over Wolves - and that clearly rankled. Indeed, Trossard didn't just send a message to his manager with his goal against Villa, his stone-faced celebration felt just as noteworthy.

As Arsenal legend Ian Wright told Premier League Productions, "We're talking about someone who is arguably our best finisher, our most clinical finisher, and someone who comes on and affects games. Yes, we know Martinelli has a lot of pace and when he is in form he is very, very dangerous, but what we know with Leandro Trossard is his movement and appreciation for the rest of the team in what he does is very important.

"We saw him come on and score and create a goal [against Villa]. He is someone you look at now and he's asking, 'What do I need to do to start?'"

It's a perfectly valid question, as Martinelli's case for continued inclusion is desperately weak.

With his blistering speed, Martinelli is, as Wright pointed out, always capable of causing opponents problems, but we've seen little evidence of a return to his very best form over the course of the past two weekends.

Against Villa, for example, he struggled terribly to get into the game, touching the ball just 27 times and failing to register a single shot. Even more worryingly, he made just one final-third entry, while completing a solitary dribble and losing possession 11 times.

In short, he looked nothing like the thrilling attacking force that former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp once described as "the talent of the century" - and he hasn't for some time.

Martinelli was utterly integral to Arsenal's surprise Premier League title tilt in 2022-23, finishing as the club's joint-top scorer with 15 goals, but he was only on target on six occasions last term - and not once after the 6-0 win over Sheffield United on March 4.

By contrast, Trossard struck 17 times in total to finish as second-top scorer behind Bukayo Saka (20) - despite only starting 25 games. His goals-to-minutes ratio was also far better than anyone else's at Arsenal.

It's worth remembering, too, that Martinelli's minor foot injury afforded Trossard a chance to start in the Champions League last-16 second leg against Porto, and it was the Belgian's effort that took the tie to extra-time, with Arsenal eventually prevailing on penalties.

Nonetheless, Martinelli was restored to the starting line-up for both games against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, and he was painfully ineffective in both games.

The question now, of course, is whether Arteta will persist with the misfiring Martinelli or instead pick the consistently impactful Trossard when Arsenal host Brighton on Saturday. When pressed on the matter at Villa Park, the Gunners boss insisted that Trossard had boosted his hopes of securing more starts, but stopped a long way short of guaranteeing him any game time against his former club.

"I have two great left wingers," Arteta argued. "It is always a challenge [to choose between them], but you know you are going to get the quality for specific games. I decided to play Gabi and he had a good performance, but when I decided we had to change to game because it was taking a different route, [Trossard] came on and made the difference, so big credit to him."

Trossard obviously isn't interested in credit; it's starts he craves.

From the moment Arsenal signed Trossard, Arteta has been open about the fact that the ex-Brighton forward was signed as much for his versatility as his efficacy, and Trossard himself was acutely aware that he would have to fight for his place at a club with so much attacking talent.

However, he's unquestionably earned the right to start at the Emirates on Saturday - not least for displaying a level of persistence that Arteta has acknowledged should serve as a "big example for the rest of the team".

"When you don’t get picked, there are certain ways to react," Arteta pointed out at Villa Park. "Leo is upset, but he is upset and shows on the pitch how good he is – not upset and comes in and reacts badly. That is a huge quality. Then, when you put him in the starting line-up, he does exactly the same thing."

Arteta now has a chance to not only reward Trossard for his perseverance, but also see if being benched will provoke just as positive a reaction out of Martinelli.