Gabriel Martinelli runs Arsenal show by mastering moments of chaos

The defining passage of this game arguably occurred about 10 minutes in. It didn’t result in a goal. It barely even resulted in a shot. But in a way, everything that comes later flows from that moment.

Here is what happens: David Raya catches a Liverpool cross, and in one fluid movement he hurls the ball out to Gabriel Martinelli on the left wing. Martinelli runs. And runs. And keeps running. The crowd at the Emirates Stadium rises to its feet and bellows Martinelli on like a winning racehorse.

Eventually Martinelli crosses – a good cross – and Bukayo Saka should probably do a lot better with the header. But those few seconds change everything. Ibrahima Konaté, humiliatingly beaten for pace, is never the same defender afterwards and ends a sketchy performance with a red card. Liverpool’s vulnerability to the counterattack is exposed, and ends up being a factor in all three goals they concede. Raya gets a boost of confidence and will go on to have a (largely) assured game. Most importantly of all, it establishes this game as a Gabriel Martinelli joint.

And, this season at least, these are becoming an increasingly rare occurrence. The player who lit up Arsenal’s title challenge last season with a run of eight goals in 10 games came into this weekend with just four league goals to his name. He still hasn’t completed 90 minutes in the league since November or registered an assist since September. There have been rumblings in little pockets of the fanbase that Leandro Trossard might be a better long-term option on the left, perhaps even calling for a upgrade in the transfer market.

But then there are the games that feel a little different, games of abandon and promise, where Martinelli can stretch his legs and show his class. When he has abundant green pastures in which to run and a high-set defence to pierce. For Arsenal, these games do not come around that often. But when they do, they tend to be important. And here Liverpool discovered that for all their refined technical quality, Arsenal really are a stunning counterattacking team if you’re dumb enough to let them counterattack.

And when that space opens up, there is a kind of desperation to Martinelli, the realisation that this opportunity, this pure clear air, may not come again for weeks. To be an Arsenal winger these days is to be confined in a prison of hopeful little flicks and harmless sideways passes, armies of defenders, low blocks and low percentages. Perhaps this is why when he does get the chance, he looks like a man running for his freedom.

Martinelli has actually become more integral to the way Arsenal play this season. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

The forlorn Trent Alexander‑Arnold was seen off, mesmerised and vaporised, before the hour. Now as Gabriel pumped a seemingly innocuous long ball over the top, Martinelli chased down Virgil van Dijk in pursuit of it. And against virtually any other attacker, Van Dijk simply clears the ball or gathers it in his stride. But this is a ticking Martinelli and all of a sudden, one of the world’s great defenders is more preoccupied with cutting off his run than getting anywhere near the ball himself.

Perhaps Martinelli earns the stroke of luck that results. Van Dijk’s firm shove puts him off‑balance, and forces Alisson to clear the ball while also trying to avoid a collision with the biggest player on the pitch. In the confusion Martinelli tucks the ball into an empty net for his fifth goal against Liverpool, his most against any Premier League team.

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And when you examine the goals Martinelli has scored this season, his role in this Arsenal team begins to clarify a little. This was his seventh, and in truth none of them have been normal Arsenal “process” goals. Two on the counterattack against a flagging Crystal Palace. Three against Manchester City, Lens and Sevilla, all resulting from through balls out of defence. One against Luton from a quick throw-in, with the goalkeeper still out of position. And now this, a freak collision between two of the world’s finest players.

Beneath the headline numbers, Martinelli has actually become more integral to the way Arsenal play this season. He’s taking more touches, making more dribbles, taking on more defenders. Perhaps the replacement of Granit Xhaka with Kai Havertz and the slight regression of Oleksandr Zinchenko have increased the creative burden on Martinelli on that left flank, forcing him into wider and less threatening positions.

And perhaps Martinelli will never be the star boy, the shot monster, one of those forwards who reliably churns out the big numbers. Perhaps what he is, instead, is the man who can master those rare but crucial moments of chaos: the 60‑yard dribble, the lightning break, the freak deflection. In a “struggling” season, he’s now scored the decisive goals against Arsenal’s two main title rivals. Perhaps, on reflection, things are going to plan.