Gabriel Martinelli insists Myles Lewis-Skelly respects Erling Haaland despite the Arsenal youngster appearing to mock the Manchester City striker in yesterdayβs clash at the Emirates.
Lewis-Skelly scored Arsenalβs third goal in their 5-1 win with City falling apart after Haaland had dragged them level with a towering header.
There was a running theme throughout the game with Arsenalβs players seemingly trying to rile Haaland after the Norwegian told Gunners boss Mikel Arteta to βstay humbleβ after the 2-2 draw in Manchester earlier in the season.
Gabriel screamed in Haalandβs face after Martin Odegaard scored Arsenalβs opener before Lewis-Skelly copied Haalandβs trademark βmeditationβ celebration after firing past Stefan Ortega.
A lovely bit of needle between Gabriel MagalhΓ£es and Erling Haaland. [@SkySportsPL]
β Gunners (@Gunnersc0m) February 2, 2025
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‘He respects Erling a lot’
Haalandβs father, former City and Leeds midfielder Alfie-Inge, had a pop at Arsenal in the aftermath of yesterdayβs game but Martinelli insisted there was no lack of respect towards the former Borussia Dortmund man.
The Brazil forward told The Independent: βI donβt know if it [the celebration] was planned, but, for sure, he respects Erling a lot.
βHe scored an amazing goal, and he has been brilliant recently. We are really happy for him.β
Haaland pointed at the Premier League winnerβs badge on his shirt as he applauded the travelling fans at the final whistle, adding to the animosity between the sides.
Erling Haaland had to remind the Arsenal fans π pic.twitter.com/bDbOjHIq3C
β B/R Football (@brfootball) February 2, 2025
Arsenal still trying to win the league – Martinelli
Martinelli added: βItβs two teams that want to win the championship, so thatβs a fight.
βWe tried our best, and they tried their best as well. We have to win duels to win these games and thatβs why the game becomes hard work. We did well, and we are really happy with the result.
βWe know our qualities, the team that we have. Even though we have some players injured, we know the quality we have in the team and we are trying our best for the club, for the players that are injured, and for the fans, too. We still have a long journey to go, many games to go, but we are going to try to do our best to win the league.β
Newcastle next up for Gunners
The win saw Arsenal cling on to the coattails of leaders Liverpool, who won 2-0 at Bournemouth on Saturday.
Artetaβs men are six points behind the Merseysiders, who also have a game in hand.
Arsenalβs best chance of silverware remains in cup competitions and they head to Newcastle on Wednesday looking to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final.
Martinelli said: βWe are going to go there to win the game and to score three, four, five. Letβs see, the game is going to be really hard, for sure. But we are going to try our best to win the game.
βIt is going to be another battle. We know how difficult it is to play there. But, as I said, we have an amazing team and we have full confidence in our squad and we trust ourselves. We are going to go there to win.β