Gabriel Martinelli insists that we need to maintain the mentality that has seen us once again bounce back from adversity to claim three points, after stunning Aston Villa to win 2-1 and make it five wins from five this campaign.
Just 151 seconds separated Villa’s equaliser and the Brazilian's 77th-minute winner at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening. After Douglas Luiz had brought the visitors level, we raced up the other end and retook the lead when our forward smartly volleyed Bukayo Saka’s cross past Emiliano Martinez at the back post.
Martinelli’s decisive goal continued an encouraging trend of instant responses this season. We twice scored within two minutes after conceding to Leicester City in our first home game of the campaign, and also came from behind to beat Fulham at the weekend.
“That’s the mentality we need to have the whole season but also next season and in the future,” Martinelli said at full-time. “We need to do this and keep winning the games. “It was a tough game. We knew that, but I think we deserved the win and we played well. The most important thing is the three points - and we got them.
“I’m feeling great [but it’s] not just me, I think the whole team, the staff, the fans - everyone is happy today. We are trying to win every single game. [We go] game by game and that’s the mentality we need to have.”
Martinelli’s goal was scored against friend and former team-mate, Emi Martinez - who helped us to win the 2020 Emirates FA Cup.
“He’s a very good friend of mine,” Martinelli added. “I told him that I was going to score - and I did it! I’m so happy with the goal and the team performance.
“I think I got the ball wide. I played it to Tomi, he played it to Bukayo. He crossed and I was there. I just tried to put it in and it worked. I’m so happy with the goal and the victory as well.”
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
