Arsenal came from behind to beat Portsmouth 4-1 in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Pompey took the lead after just three minutes at Fratton Park as Colby Bishop poked home the rebound after Kepa Arrizabalaga kept out a Conor Chaplin effort.
However, the lead didn’t last long, with Arsenal levelling in the eighth minute as Andre Dozzell diverted the ball into his own net in an effort to stop Christian Norgaard from applying a close-range finish.
A hat-trick from Gabriel Martinelli finished the job for the Gunners, with the Brazilian netting in the 25th, 51st and 72nd minutes — a penalty miss from Noni Madueke thrown in for good measure.
Martinelli magic
Prior to this match, Gabriel Martinelli had managed just one goal in 18 domestic outings this season, with the bulk of his success coming in the Champions League — in which he’s bagged five goals and an assist in five appearances so far.
However, the Brazilian was in the mood here and well and truly put Portsmouth to the sword.
This is Martinelli’s first-ever hat-trick for Arsenal, and perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is the fact that two of the goals were headers.
His first came in the 25th minute as he flicked home an Eberechi Eze cross, reacting quickest to the dangerous cross into the box and leaving the Pompey defenders for dust. It was a similar story for his third, this time converting a wicked corner from Madueke.
In between, Martinelli applied an excellent finish at the back post from a Gabriel Jesus cross after Arsenal caught out Pompey with a quick free-kick. And all of that is without mentioning the fact that Martinelli provided the flick-on from the corner that caused havoc on Arsenal’s equaliser, while he also hit the post from close range in the 41st minute.
Martinelli only completed three more passes (9) than he attempted shots (6) at Fratton Park, highlighting just how ruthless a performance this was.
Set-piece kings strike again
It’s no secret that Arsenal are the set-piece kings of Europe right now. No team has scored more Premier League goals from such situations than the Gunners this season (12), while they’ve netted another three set-piece goals in the Champions League.
But Arteta’s side took things to a whole different level at Fratton Park on Sunday.
Arsenal scored no fewer than three goals from their eight corners at a 37.5% success rate. Martinelli was the main event, but the likes of Gabriel and Norgaard created chaos inside the Portsmouth box. And even when they didn’t score, you could feel the nerves within the Pompey defence and on the terraces; it just looked like Arsenal were going to find the net with every cross that entered the box, rendering a brave Portsmouth effort utterly meaningless.
This is the third time this season that Arsenal have scored 2+ goals from corners in a single match, having done so against Leeds in August and Newcastle in September — that’s more than any other Premier League side.
Only Sheffield Wednesday (15) have conceded more goals from set-pieces than Portsmouth (14) in the Championship this season, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.
This was very much an unstoppable force coming up against a very movable object.