BBC pundit amazed by Gabriel Martinelli during first-half in Arsenal win
Danny Gabbidon was full of praise for the goal scored by Gabriel Martinelli during the first-half of Arsenal’s clash with Crystal Palace, telling BBC Sport that the finish was outstanding.
The Gunners were brilliant during the first-half at the Emirates. Mikel Arteta’s men went into the break 2-0 up, compounding the current misery amongst the Palace squad.
And it was Martinelli who broke the deadlock with a superb goal just before the half-hour mark. The Brazilian received the ball after some good work from Ben White and Bukayo Saka down the right flank.
Martinelli praised after brilliant Arsenal goal
He did excellently to create a yard of space on his left foot. And he managed to find the far corner with a pinpoint finish. It was his 13th goal of the campaign in the Premier League.
And Gabbidon suggested that it was a moment of magic from the youngster.
“The pressure finally tells, Palace not able to clear their lines. Outstanding from Martinelli because he has so much to do,” he told BBC Radio Five Live.
“He drags it on to his left and he is just too quick for Ward. It’s a tighter angle for the strike. Plants it in that far corner past Whitworth who has got absolutely no chance, it’s a brilliant goal.
“It’s past Whitworth before he can even dive. Brilliant individual goal, what a finish.”
Obviously, expectations were pretty high for Arsenal heading into Sunday. Manchester City were not playing. So that perhaps took some of the pressure off of the league leaders.
Meanwhile, Palace are really struggling. They parted company with Patrick Vieira during the week. And they are edging closer and closer to the bottom three in the Premier League.
But Arsenal dealt with the expectation superbly. They did not look like a team with little experience of challenging for the title. They were utterly ruthless to quash any hope of Palace going into the international break on a high.
Arsenal would have probably hoped that there was no international break while they are flying. But Arteta will be choosing to look at the gap in the fixture list positively.
However, he will be desperately hoping that all his star players come through the break unscathed.
