Gabriel Martinelli insists that Myles Lewis-Skelly respects Erling Haaland despite the young Arsenal seeming to make fun of the Manchester City striker during yesterday’s confrontation at the Emirates.
Lewis-Skelly scored Arsenal’s third goal in their 5-1 victory with City to collapse after Haaland dragged them to the level with an imposing head.
There was a racing theme throughout the game with the arsenal players who have apparently tried to Rider Haaland after the Norwegian told the boss of the Gunners, Mikel Arteta, to “stay humble” after the draw 2 -2 in Manchester earlier in the season.
Gabriel shouted on Haaland’s face after Martin Odegaard scored the first Arsenal match before Lewis-Skelly copied the celebration of the “meditation” of the Haaland brand after shooting Stefan Ortega.
A little needle between Gabriel Magalhães and Erling Haaland. [@SkySportsPL]
– Gunners (@ Gunnersc0m) February 2, 2025
‘He respects Erling’ a lot
Haaland’s father, the former midfielder of City and Leeds, Alfie-Inge, had a pop in Arsenal in the aftermath of yesterday’s match, but Martinelli insisted that he was not lacking in respect for the ‘Old man of Borussia Dortmund.
The Brazil striker told the independent: “I don’t know if that [the celebration] was planned, but, for sure, he respects Erling a lot.
“He has scored an incredible goal and was recently brilliant. We are really happy for him.
Haaland pointed out the badge of the winner of the Premier League on his shirt as he applauds the itinerant fans with the final whistle, adding to the animosity between the sides.
Erling Haaland had to remind the arsenal fans 😅 pic.twitter.com/bdbojhiq3c
– B / R Football (@brfootball) February 2, 2025
Arsenal always trying to win the League – Martinelli
Martinelli added: “These are two teams who want to win the championship, so it’s a fight.
“We did our best and they also did their best. We have to win duels to win these games and that is why the game becomes difficult work. We have done well and we are really satisfied with the result.
“We know our qualities, the team we have. Even if we have injured players, we know the quality we have in the team and we do our best for the club, for injured players, and for fans too. We still have a long trip to make, many games to do, but we will try to do our best to earn the League. »»
Newcastle then for the artillerymen
The victory saw Arsenal hang on to the tails of the leaders of Liverpool, who won 2-0 in Bournemouth on Saturday.
Arteta’s men are six points behind the Merseysiders, who also have a game in hand.
Wednesday, the best chance in Arsenal’s silverware remains in the cup competitions and they go to Newcastle on Wednesday by trying to overthrow a 2-0 deficit from the first stage of their semi-final of the EFL Cup.
Martinelli said: “We are going to go to win the match and score three, four, five. See, the game will be really difficult, that’s for sure. But we are going to do our best to win the match.
“It will be another battle. We know how difficult it is to play there. But, as I said, we have an incredible team and we have fully confidence in our team and we trust each other. We are going to go to win. »»