Gary Neville spotted a problem for ‘magical’ Arsenal player against Aston Villa

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Arsenal have made it two wins from two to start the new Premier League season having beaten Aston Villa 2-0 on Saturday evening.

Arsenal were beaten twice by Villa without even scoring a single goal last season, so Mikel Arteta will have wanted to exorcise some demons.

The Gunners did just that, but only after seeing David Raya pull off an unbelievable save to deny Ollie Watkins from close range.

Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey bagged the goals, handing Arsenal a 2-0 victory and another clean sheet in the process.

Gary Neville on struggling Arsenal star

Any away day victory is cause for real celebration, even at this early stage of the season.

It wasn’t all good news for Arsenal though as winger Gabriel Martinelli didn’t quite make the desired impact.

Martinelli registered two key passes but only one successful dribble alongside no shots on target and two dispossessions.

Leandro Trossard came on for Martinelli and made an almost instant impact with a fine finish to open the scoring.

Martinelli just seemed to lack confidence, even when facing a rookie right back in substitute Kosta Nedeljkovic.

Gary Neville has now shared his concern, discussing Martinelli’s performance on the Gary Neville Podcast.

Neville feels that Martinelli is completely lacking belief right now and is ‘definitely hesitating’ rather than working off instinct when he gets on the ball.

Neville spotted Martinelli taking the ‘safe option’ but wonders whether that is due to Martinelli’s form or Arteta’s design.

The former Manchester United star added that Martinelli can be ‘magical’ and ‘breathtaking’ at his best but may need to learn a few things from Trossard in order to get back to his best.

“The one player that I think I would say needs that little bit of belief back in his game is Martinelli,” said Neville. “It was really obvious to me because he was down here in front of us wasn’t he in the first half. I think he’s an instinctive player who is direct, and he’s at his best when he’s running at real pace and you’re not quite sure what he’s going to do next. He’s definitely hesitating when he gets the ball, not quite knowing what to do.”

“I can’t quite work out whether that’s a lack of belief and confidence or whether there’s a little bit of a Pep Guardiola ‘wide controller’ type coming into the Arsenal game where they get it wide and then they think ‘well hang on a minute, I’m not going to give the ball away by going one-on-one, I’m going to recycle it’ and he is just coming back and taking the safe option and the cautious option at times.”

“I just feel like he’s one who obviously needs a little bit of care and attention at this moment in time because he’s not quite there, and I called it pretty early that Trossard would have to come on early in the second half. He wasn’t bad, he wasn’t terrible in the game, but he has definitely lost that little bit of belief and it stands out because of how brilliant him and Saka are when they’re both at it together – they’re a magical and beautiful wide pairing and he’s just a little bit below that at this moment in time.”

“There’s things that Trossard has that Martinelli doesn’t and vice-versa, but there are maybe parts of Trossard’s game that Martinelli could look at in terms of his timing and his understanding of the position is just slightly better than Martinelli’s, but Martinelli is breathtaking in his own way,” he added.

Gabriel Martinelli looking over his shoulder

Martinelli has so much talent; we have seen it so many times before in the Premier League and he has really terrorised full backs in the Premier League.

The Brazilian hasn’t quite been at it in the first couple of games this season and actually had a quiet end to last season.

Martinelli failed to score in his final 10 games of the 2023-24 Premier League campaign, albeit coming off the bench in all but one of those appearances.

Arsenal’s project has been moving rapidly under Arteta and there is no room for sentiment – as Emile Smith Rowe has found this summer.

If Martinelli doesn’t step it up this season, he may well be left behind as Arsenal continue their push for major honours under Arteta.

Trossard is knocking on the door for a starting role and Martinelli needs to find his best form again – or find that his role in Arteta’s setup diminishes.