How the Trossard-Martinelli combination unlocked Leicester and gave Arsenal a new attacking threat

First the stepover, to create the gap, and then the delicate nutmegged pass to create the chance. Leandro Trossard’s assist for Gabriel Martinelli, in Arsenal’s victory at Leicester City on Saturday, was a flicker of technical quality that ultimately proved decisive for Mikel Arteta’s side.

These are the match-defining moments for which Trossard was signed from Brighton last month, for an initial fee of £21 million, and the Belgian’s latest showing for his new club provided further evidence that he was a shrewd acquisition by the league leaders.

More interesting than the assist itself, though, is the position on the pitch from which Trossard delivered his pass for Martinelli. Trossard was out on the left wing, his heels almost on the touchline, and it was Martinelli who darted through the middle of the defence.

Trossard as the winger, Martinelli as the striker. This was not how Arsenal started the match, but it is how those two players lined up in many moments of the game. With Trossard floating around from a “false nine” position, Arteta’s side had a versatility and flexibility in attack that eventually led to them claiming all three points.

With Martinelli, especially, Trossard was constantly swapping roles. When Martinelli came inside, Trossard moved to the left. When Trossard moved to the left, Martinelli darted inside. It was fluid and flowing, and it showed that Arteta has other attacking cards to play as he waits for the return of the injured Gabriel Jesus.

Most impressively of all, Trossard and Martinelli’s dovetailing worked despite the two forwards not playing a single minute together before Saturday’s trip to Leicester. In each of Trossard’s first six matches for Arsenal, he had either replaced Martinelli as a substitute or been replaced by Martinelli himself. They had not shared a pitch since December, when Trossard was still playing for Brighton.

Until this weekend, Eddie Nketiah had started every match for Arsenal since the Premier League returned on Boxing Day. He has largely played well, scoring six goals and leading the line with commendable energy and skill. But Nketiah is a different sort of player to Jesus, and he is far less likely to roam across the frontline than the absent Brazilian.

Without Jesus alongside him, Martinelli has not been quite as effective in recent weeks. On Saturday the inclusion of Trossard, whose movement is more similar to that of Jesus, appeared to give Martinelli more freedom at Leicester and allowed him to take up more varied, dangerous positions. It was from one of those positions that he scored the game’s only goal.

Trossard also impressed with his build-up play, dropping into deeper positions and spraying passes out wide. He scored a superb goal from the edge of the box, too, but then saw it ruled out following another controversial Var review.

Different partnerships provide different angles, and Arteta will be pleased with the connection that has evidently been created between Trossard and Martinelli. Arteta cannot allow his team to become predictable – with Trossard proving himself to be an effective alternative to Nketiah, the Arsenal manager now has another way of changing the dynamic of his attack.

Even when Jesus is fully fit and available, Arsenal do not have a player in their squad like Erling Haaland. There is no 33-goal forward at their disposal, no physical presence who can occupy multiple defenders. Arsenal, therefore, have to do things in a different way to Manchester City, and they have to ensure the goals are shared around the team.

So far this season, they have succeeded on that front. Bukayo Saka is their top scorer with 10 goals, while Martinelli and Nketiah have nine each. Martin Odegaard, their playmaker, has scored eight goals. When they are playing well, the threat comes from all sides of the attack.

“At the end of the day you are going to have to score a certain amount of goals if you want to be at the top,” said Arteta last week. “And if you don't have a player who scores 30 goals in the league, I'm sure that somehow we have to find them [elsewhere]. We have to try to elevate the level and the influence of a lot of players in and around the box, and in the final third.”

In a few weeks, Jesus will return to fitness. No Arsenal player does more to “elevate the level” of his attacking team-mates. In the meantime, Trossard has now shown he can have a similar effect, providing a valuable change of pace when it is needed in this long title race.