Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli has picked out Manchester City’s Kyle Walker and Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate as the two defenders he finds the ‘toughest to beat’ in the Premier League.
Martinelli, 23, is enjoying his sixth season with Arsenal and has come up against several of the most highly rated and decorated centre-backs in world football in that time.
With games coming thick and fast for the Gunners, Martinelli is set for plenty more intriguing tussles heading into the winter period, starting at home to Nuno Espirito Santo’s high-flying Nottingham Forest in ten days’ time.
An out-of-sorts Arsenal may well be thankful for the timing of the international break after what has proven a difficult period, with Mikel Arteta’s men winning just two of their last seven matches in all competitions.
But a defiant Martinelli remains confident in Arsenal’s ‘qualities’ and believes the club’s title hopes remain intact, despite top-of-the-table Liverpool holding a nine-point advantage over them after 11 games.
‘We have a really good team, really good players. We’ve been second two seasons in a row and we want to make it this year,’ the Arsenal winger told Men in Blazers.
‘We know our qualities, we know we can do it, it’s just about being calm. The season is long, we’re still at the beginning.
‘We have to go game-by-game. It’s really difficult, we have to try to win all of them to be champions, we trust in ourselves and we go for it.’
Martinelli rates Walker as one of the best defenders in the English top flight (Picture: Getty)
On the Premier League defenders he finds toughest to get past in one-vs-one situations, Martinelli replied: ‘It has to be Walker and Konate from Liverpool.
‘They are both tough to beat.’
On his strategy in such battles, Martinelli added: ‘It’s instinct, I just see how he is, how his body is, and I just try to do what I do and try to beat him.’
Martinelli is grateful for the ‘growth in football’ he has experienced since Arteta took charge of Arsenal back in December 2019.
‘He’s been really important in my growth in football,’ the Brazil international explained.
‘I think when he got here I was 19. We’ve been through the process with the team, not just me but he has helped every single player in the squad. For me, he was also really important helping me with my game.
‘When I’m on the left I used to control the ball with my right foot and when he came he said, “No, try to control the ball with your left so you can take the opponent on”, so since that day I’ve tried to do it and nowadays I do it every time so it’s super easy for me.’
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