Arsenal boss has the perfect opportunity to try out No. 9 wildcard after Auba struggles last night – TBR View

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Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struggled in last night’s Europa League last-16 second leg.

The Gunners hosted Olympiacos, who they’d beaten 3-1 in their first encounter a week ago.

Ultimately, that result helped Arsenal stumble over the line and into the quarter-finals of the competition, as they fell to a 1-0 defeat on the night.

Aubameyang, normally so prolific, sent a great first-half chance over the bar and then failed to put away two close-range opportunities.

As well as those spurned chances, the Gunners captain’s hold-up play wasn’t great and he barely had a kick in the final third after the break.

Arsenal obviously have Alexandre Lacazette in their ranks who can also play at No. 9, and you’d think he’s likely to get the nod in the coming weeks.

The Gunners generally do look better with Lacazette there, as he’s good at holding the ball up and letting the flair players around him enjoy a bit more space.

However, now is as good a time as ever to try something new at centre-forward – Gabriel Martinelli.

Admittedly, the Brazilian has played there before for Arsenal, but most of his game time in the past 15 or so months has come on the left wing.

Mikel Arteta hasn’t given Martinelli much game time over the past few weeks, but in wake of Aubameyang’s poor display last night, there’s certainly scope for something new.

The 19-year-old is incredibly talented – great spatial awareness, amazing speed and acceleration, superb dribbling, calm in possession, fierce in the press and of course, his ability to create something out of nothing.

Many incredible strikers begun their careers out on the wings – Kylian Mbappe, Mason Greenwood, Timo Werner, and of course Aubameyang and Thierry Henry, and surely it’s only a matter of time before Martinelli joins this list.