As we sit in the middle of yet another pointless interlull, I thought it might be an idea to have a look at the Arsenal squad and see how they’ve been doing this season so far.
Let’s start with the goalkeepers.
3Emiliano Martinez 4
It might seem rough to give someone who isn’t playing a ‘4’ but that’s exactly why he’s getting it.
Emi Martinez must surely be approaching a crunch decision. He’s 26 now, an age by which some of his peers had already established themselves as their respective clubs’ number one.
Martinez has not even come close to doing that.
There’s no doubting that Martinez has looked decent when he’s been given a chance, but that’s all he’s really been – decent. That’s good enough for a club lower down the football pyramid, but it will never get him the number one shirt at Arsenal, at least not while someone like Leno is at the club.
That he can’t even push past Petr Cech who is well into the twilight of his career speaks volumes but the previous regime placed a lot of faith in him, awarding him a contract until 2022.
So far this season, he has one Premier League 2 appearance to his name. He is the same age as Leno who has 314 senior appearances to his name with Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal.
Martinez has 19 with Arsenal and Getafe plus 39 with Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United and Oxford United.