Mikel Arteta praises ‘dominant’ Arsenal as Gabriel Martinelli hits back after late heroics

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his team ‘dominated’ the game as a dramatic 93rd-minute goal from substitute Gabriel Martinelli earned them an important point against Manchester City.

The Gunners performed well for large portions of the game, and they will feel that they at least deserved to take a point after fighting back from Erling Haaland’s opener after just nine minutes.

The game saw the return of Bukayo Saka, who has now recovered from injury, with the England star coming off the bench at half-time, and he gave a good showing.

But it was Martinelli who stole the headlines after scoring his second goal in six games, as he notched in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Speaking in a post-match interview with BBC Match of the Day, Arteta said: “At the very least [we deserved a point].

“I’m so proud of my players, the way we played, the way we dominated almost every aspect of the game. Very disappointed not to win the game.”

On Man City’s goal, Arteta said: “We had the situation, five against two, a lot of a scramble over the ball and in that moment, that split second, Halland runs on and they attacked the space in a great way – that’s the quality they have.

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“We are in the top end of the pitch, cross the ball and a lot of things have to happen but that’s their quality.”

On how Arsenal limited Man City’s chances, Arteta added: “One is a corner, another is a counter attack and the other is a giveaway. That’s it. To keep City to just that, chapeau to the boys.”

“I think we played better than last year when we beat them. Much better.”

On Martinelli’s goal and performance, Arteta said: “Very happy, that is what they’re here for. Ebs [Eze] as well with the ball he plays to Gabi, the timing of the run and the quality of the finish is unbelievable.”

“[The subs] are all going to play. They will all have opportunity. We’re going to need them at that level. There is no question that that is something very necessary.”

On being five points behind Liverpool in the Premier League table, Arteta said: “We cannot control that. They win every match. It’s going to be very difficult but if we play at this level, like we did against Manchester City, we will be fine.”

Martinelli: ‘I don’t want to be on the bench’

Arsenal’s goal scorer, Martinelli, admitted that he doesn’t want to be on the bench, but believed his team performed well in the game.

“Of course we wanted to win the game,” Martinelli said.

“I think we created a lot of chances during the game and were just a bit unlucky in certain moments. Happy with the goal but we didn’t want to draw the game, we wanted to win it so let’s keep working to win those ones.”

On his goal, Martinelli added: “I saw Ebs [Eze] getting the ball and I tried to make eye contact with him and once the ball was open, I made the movement and it was a great ball from him. I just tried to put it in the back of the net.”

On making an impact from the bench, the Brazilian said: “I work for those moments. I leave [selection] for the gaffer, he knows what he does. I just do my best to help this football club.

“Of course, I don’t want to be on the bench. I want to play 90 minutes every single game but Arteta knows what he does, he’s the gaffer and everyone trusts him. We’re really happy with him.

“We play for Arsenal, we know how big this club is and we try our best in the games to win football matches. We didn’t want to draw but, in the end, we did.”

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