Gabriel Martinelli
Gabriel Martinelli has been told to expect a furious reaction from Mikel Arteta
Gabriel Martinelli has been told to expect the hairdryer treatment from Mikel Arteta after costing Arsenal a win at Fulham.
The Brazilian had been introduced as a substitute for Leandro Trossard on the hour mark at Craven Cottage. He delivered a lively showing in the final 30 minutes, but will have been left kicking himself.
With two minutes to play, Martinelli found himself out on the left touchline up on Fulham's defensive line. But as the ball was played into him, the winger had stepped forward, past the last defender.
Martinelli then put in a brilliant cross for Bukayo Saka to head in, but the goal was ruled out due to the Brazilian being offside. That drew a furious response from Gunners legend Paul Merson, who branded Martinelli's actions 'criminal'.
"He is offside and in football terms it's criminal what Martinelli has done. I can't express enough how in football terms, you just can't be that. You cannot be offside, you're looking along the line, you've got pace," Merson said on Sky Sports.
"He's electric so he's not even someone who's got to try and nick a yard and play on the edge. He can give a yard or two. I'll be surprised if he isn't on the end of one in the dressing room when he gets in by the manager. Honestly.
"He even knows. You could see it on his face after, he knew you can't do that. You just cannot be offside when you're looking along that line. The one thing when looking along the line is do not be offside, it's as simple as that."
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Arsenal had been forced to fight back from going a goal down to Raul Jimenez's early opener for the Cottagers. And Gunners skipper Martin Odegaard was left frustrated his side were unable to close the gap on leaders Liverpool.
"We dominated most of the game. The first half wasn't great. We were a bit sloppy and lacked energy and power. The second half was a lot better. It's frustrating not to win," Odegaard told Sky Sports.
"We were close in the end with the goal. They're a good team. They know how to defend. A solid block. We didn't do enough today. We have to learn from that and straight back in for the next one.
"We have to focus on ourselves. We don't care about the other teams [in the title race]. We did a lot of good things. We have to do more and put the ball in the box more times.
"Maybe be a bit more direct and aggressive. We could have won it in the end. It's a very long way to go. We've said hundreds of times we have to keep going game by game."
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