Arsenal star Leandro Trossard pushing to start over Gabriel Martinelli, says Ian Wright

Arsenal great Ian Wright believes Leandro Trossard is building a strong case to begin starting regularly over Gabriel Martinelli in Mikel Arteta’s attack.

The Gunners had to dig deep to overcome bogey team Aston Villa on Saturday, with Trossard and Thomas Partey both scoring in the space of ten second-half minutes to secure a 2-0 victory.

An undefeated Arsenal beat Wolves by the same scoreline in their opening Premier League match of the season and the result puts Arteta’s men third in the table, behind Brighton and reigning champions Manchester City.

Trossard started on the bench, with Arteta opting for Bukayo Saka and Martinelli either side of Kai Havertz, but the Belgium international was brought on in the 65th minute as the north London outfit sought an opener.

It took Trossard just two minutes to make the breakthrough for the visitors, beating Emiliano Martinez with his first touch to send Arsenal’s away support at Villa Park into raptures.

Trossard also produced an impressive cameo in Arsenal’s win over Wolves and club legend Wright feels Arteta will be strongly considering starting the forward at home to his former club Brighton next weekend.

‘We’re talking about someone who is our best finisher, our most clinical finisher with his chances and someone who comes on and affects games,’ Wright told Premier League Productions.

‘Yes, we know Martinelli has a lot of pace and when he is in form he is very, very dangerous but what we know with Leandro Trossard is his movement and appreciation for the rest of the team in what he does.

‘We saw him come on and score and create a goal.

‘He is someone you look at now and say, yeah, he’s saying, “What do I need to do to start?”.’

Arteta sang Trossard’s praises after Arsenal’s victory, hailing the winger’s mentality and ‘unbelievable’ impact off the bench.

‘When you don’t get picked there are certain ways to react,’ Arteta said.

‘For Leo, he is upset, he is upset to show on the pitch how good he is. Not upset because he is not playing. And that is a huge quality.

‘When you put him in the starting XI he does the exact same thing and that is a big example for the rest of the team. When he came in he was unbelievable. That is what we need.’

Asked whether Trossard’s mentality is likely to earn him more starts going forward, the Spaniard replied: ‘Always. We have two great left wingers.

‘It always a challenge but you know you are going to get the quality for specific games.

‘I decide to play Gabi [Martinelli and he had a good performance but when I decided we had to change to game because it was taking a different route, he [Trossard] came on and made the difference and big credit to him.’

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