Mikel Arteta heaped praise on Gabriel Martinelli after the Arsenal wide-man turned from Public Enemy No1 to FA Cup hat-trick hero at Fratton Park on Sunday.
Martinelli was heavily criticised across the game for trying to push a badly injured Conor Bradley off the pitch during Arsenal’s match against Liverpool at The Emirates on Thursday night.
Bradley has subsequently been ruled out for the rest of the season and even though Martinelli apologised to him for his actions, he was booed by Portsmouth fans every time he touched the ball.
But Martinelli shrugged off his notoriety and scored three times as an Arsenal second-string breezed past the Championship strugglers 4-1 on the south coast to progress to the fourth round.
Arsenal fans reacted to his hat-trick by singing chants about Gary Neville, the Sky Sports analyst, who had led the chorus of criticism of Arsenal’s Brazilian star.
‘That kind of criticism is part of football and then it’s about how you take it,’ Arteta said. ‘But Gabi knew inside the reason why he did what he did.
Mikel Arteta has praised Gabriel Martinelli (pictured) after he bounced back from midweek controversy with an FA Cup hat-trick
A fuming Gary Neville branded Gabriel Martinelli an ‘idiot’ for shoving an injured Conor Bradley
‘I think Arne Slot spoke brilliantly after the game. He explained the situation and the fact that Gabi had no intention whatsoever to damage any player.
‘And, yeah, what you saw today with the way he reacted to that, that’s personality. Come in and talk on the pitch, which is the best part of it.
‘That’s why, to play for a big club, you need a big personality because it can be bad, it can be an action that you miss, it can be something that costs you a game. And three days later, there is a game. So you need to lift yourself up and make it count.
‘I love that about his attitude. Gabi, in every context that you throw him in, whether he plays, or he doesn’t play, he reacts the same. Tomorrow, he’s going to train 100 miles an hour, for sure. He’s not going to change that. And that’s Gabi.’
Arsenal, who are six points clear at the top of the Premier League, have been knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round in the last two seasons in succession but even though Arteta made 10 changes to the team, they never looked like meeting that fate again at Fratton Park.
They went behind inside the first three minutes but hit back five minutes later before Martinelli’s hat-trick took the game away from the home team.
