Gabriel Martinelli needs to be dropped after poor outing versus Liverpool

Arsenal failed to return to winning ways in the Premier League as they played out a 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Sunday evening.

The Gunners were without several key players including Martin Odegaard, William Saliba and Riccardo Calafiori for the league game.

Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber also sustained injuries during the second half, but Arsenal will still be disappointed with the result.

The club were 2-1 ahead until the 81st minute when a defensive mishap allowed Mohamed Salah to bag a crucial equaliser for the Reds.

Looking at the positives, Bukayo Saka made a perfect return from injury by scoring an early goal.

Thomas Partey was brilliant from the right-back position while midfield duo Declan Rice and Mikel Merino also fared well with key contributions.

However, the Gunners were particularly let down by Gabriel Martinelli.

The Brazil international had the better of Trent Alexander-Arnold on a few occasions, but he was poor with his end product as well as his crossing.

The 23-year-old had one big moment in the box where a penalty could have been given on another day.

Overall, Martinelli registered 14 passes with a passing accuracy of 61%. He lost possession on 18 occasions with just one out of four crosses completed.

The performance was particularly poor comparing to Martinelli’s high standards. We won’t be surprised if he is dropped to the bench in the near future.

Raheem Sterling has been decent when he has come on for the Gunners and he could get the nod on the left wing in the upcoming League Cup game.

Arsenal travel to Preston North End for the Carabao Cup fourth round tie on Wednesday evening.

A good showing from Sterling could encourage manager Mikel Arteta to play him more. We feel Martinelli can’t take his place for granted.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com & Sofascore.com