Nedum Onuoha has claimed on ESPN that Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli is a lot faster than his Liverpool counterpart, Luis Diaz.
The young Brazilian had a fine game for the Gunners against Jurgen Klopp’s side on Sunday. He was unplayable at times and deservedly picked up the Man of the Match award in the end.
Pundit says Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli is faster than Luis Diaz
It was the battle of the speedsters on the wings on Sunday when Arsenal beat Liverpool 3-2 at the Emirates.
Bukayo Saka and Martinelli of Arsenal and Mo Salah and Diaz of Liverpool are all absolutely rapid when given space. They are a nightmare to defend against, but Onuoha has had his say on who’s the fastest.
The ESPN pundit believes many people thought before the game that Diaz was the quickest of all the players who were involved on Sunday, but after watching Martinelli’s performance, everyone’s convinced that the Brazilian is a lot faster than the Liverpool man.
He said: “It (facing Arsenal’s front three) is bad news, it’s really, really bad news. It’s sort of a matchup nightmare.
“Before the game, everyone, for example, was saying Luis Diaz is really fast. Well, after the game, Martinelli is just a lot faster. Like you (Diaz) just got a yellow card for fouling Martinelli.
“You know, Martinelli gets the ball and he just wants to go full speed at you. This doesn’t always work out, but he always wants to have shots, wants to get crosses into the box, wants that end product. That’s massive.”
Our View:
Martinelli and Diaz are both rapid, but the Arsenal man definitely looked like he had a spring in his step on Sunday.
The 21-year-old opened the scoring after just 58 seconds. He was absolutely sensational on the left flank and caused Trent Alexander-Arnold all sorts of problems in the first half.
It’s not just Martinelli’s pace that makes him such a good player, it’s the way he has developed all the other areas of his game. He’s a lot smarter with his pressing, his ball control is better than ever and his decision-making in the final third is on another level compared to this time last year.
The scary thing for Arsenal’s rivals at the moment is that Martinelli is still only 21. If he continues to develop at the same rate, he really could go on to become one of the best attackers in the world in a few years’ time.