Arsenal continued their fight for the top four as they notched up a crucial win over West Ham United. A lot of the talk was about the performance of Gabriel Martinelli who scored a goal that was reminiscent of one of the club’s greatest ever players.
Much of the news before the game had to do with the situation of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The forward had been stripped off the captaincy and it was announced that he would not be eligible for selection on Wednesday.
So, given the amount of talk that was going on about this issue, the Gunners ensured that their football did the talking. From the first minute, they played like a team as they hustled and harried the Hammers into making mistakes.
Once Martinelli had given the lead, the game settled in favour of the hosts and though Alexandre Lacazette missed a penalty, it did not prevent the north Londoners from getting the three points. Emile Smith Rowe confirmed the win with a neatly taken goal a few minutes before the end of the match.
Arsenal fans were thrilled with how the Brazilian youngster played, and he has been doing that consistently for the past few games. As for the goal, the style of it was reminiscent to what Thierry Henry used to produce on a regular basis. The supporters were quick to share this observation on Twitter and here are some of the best reactions:
That Martinelli goal was literally textbook Thierry Henry.
— ∞ (@TheFalseNein) December 15, 2021
Gabriel Martinelli channelling his inner Thierry Henry.
— Patrick Timmons (@PatrickTimmons1) December 15, 2021
Gabriel Martinelli hit the Thierry Henry finish 💫 pic.twitter.com/HtwHEPZzgL
— GOAL (@goal) December 15, 2021
Thierry Henry esque finish from Gabriel Martinelli 🤌🏼🤌🏼
— Bhavs (@bhavss14) December 15, 2021
Thierry Henry,
Is that you, right? pic.twitter.com/QsmsqHcMtt— Arsenal Edit. (@thuvienarsenal) December 15, 2021
Thierry Henry is that you in disguise?
— #ArtetaSZN (@AFCKas) December 15, 2021
Arsenal Fever View:
With Smith Rowe missing a few games, it gave Martinelli a chance to impress and it is fair to say that he has taken full advantage of that opportunity. Now, with Aubameyang unlikely to play for some time, it should give the 21-year-old more chances to display his wonderful array of skills.
After a blistering start to his career with the Gunners, the Brazilian had a few injury problems. But in the time that he took to recover, it appears that the youngster has become a more rounded player who is capable of holding his own on the wings.
Mikel Arteta will be very happy with the progress that Martinelli has made this season and there are big things to come from him in the future. Arsenal sit in fourth place at the moment and would look to stay there till the end of this campaign.
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