Paul Merson has hit out at Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli after Mikel Arteta’s side were held to a 1-1 draw against Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
The Gunners were dealt a Premier League title blow on Sunday as they dew against London rivals Fulham. Raul Jimenez netted an early opener for Marco Silva’s side before William Saliba scored another goal from a corner to equalise.
Arteta‘s team pushed for a winner in the game’s closing stages and looked to have sealed the victory in the 88th minute, but Bukayo Saka had his goal ruled out for offside.
Table-toppers Liverpool did not play at the weekend as their Merseyside derby against Everton was called off. Arsenal’s result leaves them six points adrift of Arne Slot’s side, who have a game in hand.
For Arsenal’s ruled-out goal, Saka converted after being assisted by Martinelli, who was found to have carelessly drifted into an offside position.
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Arsenal legend Merson was far from happy with Martinelli as it was “criminal” to be offside at that moment.
“He is offside and, in football terms, it is criminal what Martinelli has done. I can’t express enough how you just cannot be offside when you’re looking along the line,” Merson said.
“He has got pace, he’s electric so he’s not someone who has got to try and nick a yard and play right on the edge. He can give someone 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. He even knows. You could see it on his face after, he knew you can’t do that.
“You cannot be offside when you look along that line. That is the one thing you cannot do. Do not be offside, it is as simple as that.”
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Speaking post-match, Arteta claimed Arsenal “didn’t get the reward” for their positive performance against Fulham.
“Very disappointed not to win the game,” Arteta said.
“Overall we absolutely dominated the game from start to end, we did all the things that we wanted to do during the game and unfortunately we concede one goal in one shot but the way the team played, the way the team wanted to win, it was unbelievable and very unfortunate for millimetres to win or don’t win in this league and that’s the disappointing thing tonight.
“The way we started was unbelievable, we started to dominate the ball, dominate the high press. dominate every aspect of the game and suddenly you’re one goal down and that’s the quality of this league as well.
“You’re 1-0 down but the team reacted immediately, you score the goal and we wanted another one. We fight until the end and unfortunately we didn’t get the reward today.”