“He was magnificent” – Arsenal forward backed to make much-needed turnaround to 2022/23 form

Darren Bent has backed Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli to rediscover his best form sooner rather than later.

Martinelli’s best campaign to date came in 2022/23, when he bagged 15 goals and five assists in 36 Premier League appearances to help Arsenal finish second.

Despite remaining a regular feature in Mikel Arteta’s side, Martinelli has struggled to recreate those sorts of numbers, managing just six goals and four assists in 35 Premier League outings last season.

However, the green shoots of recovery seem to be appearing for Martinelli.

Gabriel Martinelli ‘will be flying’ for Arsenal soon

The 13-time Brazil international made a slow start to this season, failing to register a single direct goal involvement in his first four league appearances.

But since then, he’s come to life with two goals and two assists in his last three games, including scoring in each of his last two to help fire Arsenal to six points against Leicester and Southampton.

Arteta will hope this is the start of a purple patch for his forward as the Gunners chase the Premier League title. According to the assessment of former Tottenham striker Bent, that may well be the case.

“That’s the biggest thing – confidence – in any football,” Bent told talkSPORT. “It doesn’t matter where you play, what level you play, if you haven’t got the confidence, then your performances are going to drop.

“And when he hit 15 [goals in 2022/23], he was magnificent. But can you back it up again? Because to go two seasons with those amount of goals and those amount of assists is difficult to do.

“He is working his way back, but you can see the confidence now slowly starting to come back. I believe by Christmas time, he will be absolutely flying.

“His confidence will be flying, the numbers will be there, and it will be the Martinelli of old.”

Martinelli will look to continue his recent upturn when Arsenal travel to Bournemouth following the international break.