has hailed the importance of and ahead of Arsenal’s title-deciding match against .
Arsenal travel to City on Wednesday night for a match that could well decide who wins the Premier League title.
Ahead of kick-off, the Gunners are just five points clear of the Citizens having played two games more, with their title bid suffering a huge blow following three back-to-back draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton.
Though performances have dipped in recent times, forwards Saka and Martinelli have largely been consistently playing at the top of their game, with the pair scoring 28 goals and making 16 assists between them in the league so far.
Arsenal legend and former City midfielder Vieira has been impressed, but believes it is their work off the ball that has got Mikel Arteta’s side to where they are now.
‘I think they are brilliant, they are really important, they score some really important goals,’ the former Gunners captain told BT Sport.
‘It’s just they way they approach the game, they work hard out of possession, they run in behind. There’s a lot of activity. They help the team out of possession and they are showing such maturity in these games.
‘When the team are in a really difficult area, you can see them being really disciplined and working with the team and accept that they have to defend. And then of course when they have possession, running in behind, stretching the opposition team.
‘And their strength in the 1v1s. They are really good runners and today they will be important for Arsenal.’
Saka and Martinelli are, as expected, in the line-up against City with Arteta making just one change from the Southampton draw with Granit Xhaka returning from illness to replace Fabio Vieira.
Arteta said: ‘Granit Xhaka has been really important throughout the season. Since I have been here he has played every single game. We need that experience, competitiveness and edge. We are happy to have him back.’
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