Player Profile: Gabriel Martinelli
Gabi Martinelli, "Nelli," "Gabigoal," “R9 Regen”!
These are some of the words any Arsenal fan would most likely use to refer to the 21-year-old Brazilian international.
He has been in red-hot form this season, and his goal against Brighton last night further highlighted his meteoric rise and sky-high confidence. It was a magnificent pass from the mercurial Martin Ødegaard for Gabriel Martinelli to latch onto, but that was not all. In the 70th minute, after all the running and pressing and with the rapid Tariq Lamptey to contend with, Martinelli beat him easily in a high-intensity sprint that started from inside the Arsenal half and then slotted it home to make it 4–1 for the Gunners, his seventh league goal of the season.
He is currently Arsenal’s joint top scorer with Martin Ødegaard both players have bagged seven goals. Both players are also ranked seventh in the league's goal scoring table.
When it comes to assists, Martinelli has made only two this season. Given his form and position and how many times we’ve seen Martinelli involved in a goal, something does not seem right. What might that be? Let’s investigate!
Now you see, although in general terms, the player who makes an assist is regarded as the one who “made” the goal, that is awfully inaccurate. There are numerous actions in a game that can lead to a shot or a goal. It could be, of course, a pass, a dribble, a header, a corner, an interception, a tackle won, or a shot that leads to another shot or, even better, a goal.
We would want to see the underlying statistics that give us more insight into Martinelli’s actual value to the Arsenal team.
Now spoiler alert: apart from Ødegaard’s goal at The Annex, Martinelli was involved in all the goals Arsenal scored—three goal involvements in a single game without an assist? Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to point out.
Arsenal’s first goal of the game was started by Martinelli. He received a pass from Zinchenko, took Lewis Dunk on, and fired a shot that clattered off him and deflected into Saka’s path for the Englishman to convert and make it 1–0.
He was once more involved when he received a pass from Partey, took Tariq Lamptey on, beat him, and fired a low shot that was saved but spilled by Brighton’s goalkeeper, Sánchez, and was pounced on by Eddie Nketiah, who was lurking around and ghosted past Dunk to get to the ball and score, making it 3–0.
Among all players in the league, Martinelli has hit the 7th-highest number of shots that have led to another shot, 6 shots in total. To put that into context, the player who has the highest number of shots that led to another shot is Aleksandar Mitrović, who took 11 of them that led to another shot.
When it comes to shots that led to goalscoring shots, though, that is where Martinelli’s statistics become more impressive.
According to FBREF, Gabriel Martinelli is the player who has taken the highest number of shots that directly led to a goalscoring shot in the league this season, a total of 5.
It seems his teammates look to score off rebounds by taking advantage of Martinelli’s venomous shooting, which more often than not gets spilled by goalkeepers or defenders, as has happened 11 times this season so far. This has produced five league goals in sixteen games for Arsenal; who knows if that might increase, or possibly double, come the end of the season?
Against Leicester, he sent in an inswinging cross that was deflected for Gabriel Jesus to convert at the far post to send Arsenal 2–0 up. Against Bournemouth, Gabriel Jesus received a pass, dribbled past three players, and hit a reverse pass to Martinelli, who hit it low with such venom that Mark Travers could not gather it cleanly, allowing the onrushing Martin Ødegaard to score from the rebound to open the scoring at the Vitality Stadium. In the game against Fulham, it was his cross that was spilled and allowed Gabriel (forgive me for the many Gabriels, they are all Brazilian too) to score the winning goal at the Emirates. He hit another low shot that was routinely saved by José Sá, but it was again spilled and converted on the rebound by Martin Ødegaard to put Arsenal up 2-0 in the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Last night against Brighton, it was his shots that led to the goals scored by Saka and Nketiah.
Arsenal have been performing very well this season, and in offensive statistics, they attack very well. A highlight of that would be in terms of shot-creating actions, which could be a pass, a dribble, or a foul won. Arsenal has three players in the top 10 list of players that make the most shot-creating actions; no other team has two players in this list.
Martinelli’s performances have included vital moments too; he has scored the opening goal for Arsenal three times. The opening goal of the season at Palace. He again scored the opening goal against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. He also put Arsenal ahead vs. West Ham with a low shot that beat Fabianski to make the score 2-1, highlighting that this season, he has been a player who can score when his team needs a goal, that is, when the scoreline is 0-0 or 1-1, an important trait the Gunners have needed this season.
His underlying statistics also further accentuate his importance to the Gunners. It was his shot that led to Odegaard’s opening goal vs. Bournemouth. It was his corner kick that was touched down by Saliba for Gabriel’s winning goal vs. Fulham. He scored the winning goal in the game against Aston Villa. In the derby game against Spurs, he assisted Xhaka’s goal, which effectively killed the game by putting Arsenal up 3–1.
He has been involved in 15 of Arsenal’s 40 goals this season. 7 goals, 2 assists, 5 shots that led to a goal-scoring shot, and a corner kick that led to Gabriel’s winning goal vs. Fulham. In statistical terms, he has been involved in 37.5% of the goals scored by Arsenal in the league this season.
Saka and Ødegaard have deservedly received a lot of attention, but Martinelli’s worth to the team has been invaluable too. Arsenal’s tactic of having Martinelli take low and hard shots appears to be working really well, with Arsenal profiting from five goals from it.
That is not the only valuable thing Martinelli has brought to this team, though. He has a knack for scoring important goals, scoring five of them in Arsenal’s 16 league games this season, with four being the first goal of the game and the one that put Arsenal in the lead vs. West Ham. His cross against Leicester produced the winning goal. His shot against Bournemouth led to Martin Ødegaard’s opening goal. Again, his inswinging cross against Fulham led to the winning goal by Gabriel. He also assisted Xhaka’s goal, which gave Arsenal a 3–1 lead against their archrivals, Tottenham. It was his shot against the Wolves that was deflected into the path of Ødegaard, who scored to make the score 2-0. His shots against Robert Sánchez led to Bukayo Saka’s opening goal and Nketiah’s goal to make the score 3–0. He scored Arsenal’s last goal of the game to make the score 4–1.
He has been pivotal to Arsenal’s title charge this season, and if he can keep up in this vein of form, it would do their chances of success a whole world of good.
Thanks for reading.