Arsenal told they have a player whose career has completely stalled recently

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Year on year Arsenal have progressed under Mikel Arteta.

From mid-table to top four challengers to title hopefuls to title contenders, Arteta has taken Arsenal on an upward trajectory season on season.

However, this year, Arsenal seem to have gone backwards, they have fewer points at this stage than they’ve had in the last two years, and they stand to be nine points off the pace at the top of the league if Liverpool win their game in hand.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	15	11	3	1	31	13	18	36
2	ChelseaChelsea	16	10	4	2	37	19	18	34
3	ArsenalArsenal	16	8	6	2	29	15	14	30
4	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	16	8	4	4	21	19	2	28

Arsenal haven’t made that next stride this season, and according to Adrian Clarke speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, one of the Gunners’ bright young talents has now stalled.

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Gabriel Martinelli has stalled

Clarke spoke about how Gabriel Martinelli’s progression has halted, claiming that he’s plateaued as a player.

Martinelli was once called a world-class player, but now, he’s not close to that level.

The pundit says that all of Arsenal’s left-wing options at the moment aren’t delivering, singling the £6m man out for particular criticism.

“Yeah, it’s tough because they’re both very good players, as is Gabriel Jesus, who’s another option,” Clarke said.

“Sterling, none of them are bad players, but none of them are delivering what they’re capable of, are they? You’re looking for improvement, aren’t you, from Martinelli year on year? He’s still a young player, but you’re not getting it really.”

“Yeah. So yeah, he’s definitely, his career is stalling, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s plateaued.”

Is Gabriel Martinelli getting worse?

Clarke says that Martinelli has stalled, and he’s not wrong.

Indeed, the stats show that Martinelli simply isn’t improving at the rate you’d want a young player to.

Of course, when you look at the stats, it would be fair to say Martinelli has actually got worse over the past two seasons, but perhaps the debate should be whether or not Martinelli was ever actually that good.

Indeed, Martinelli has only ever really had one standout season for Arsenal, and perhaps that’s the anomaly rather than his last 18 months’ worth of underwhelming performances.

We’ve seen plenty of one-season wonders in the Premier League over the years, and while Martinelli doesn’t quite fit into that bracket, perhaps the 2022/23 season was just one incredible year in what may be set to be a career that never hits those heights again.

Martinelli really needs to step things up, but whether or not he has the ability to do that on a consistent basis is up for debate.