Portsmouth 1-4 Arsenal: Martinelli hat-trick sends Gunners through

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Quotes round-up

Arsenal are through to the 4th round of the FA Cup after a 4-1 win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park yesterday.

Mikel Arteta made 10 changes from the team that started against Liverpool, with Gabriel the only one remaining from that game. And early on, you could see there was a lack of cohesion. The home side scored in the third minute when I was trying to work out what on earth we were doing in terms of our shape. Kepa saved a shot but didn’t push it far enough away, and Portsmouth skipper Colby Bishop was there to force home the rebound. Arteta’s face when that goal went in was quite something, so much so I almost felt sorry the lads who would have to face his wrath at half-time. Almost.

To their credit, Portsmouth were brave early on, pressed high and it caused us some problems. We were careless in possession, and a bit ragged out of it, but we did respond quickly to going behind by equalising within a few minutes. Eberechi Eze delivered a corner, it was initially given as a goal for Christian Norgaard, but it turned out to be an own goal off Andre Dozzell.

There were still some moments of danger in our defensive third that won’t have pleased the manager, but we began to play successfully through their press and after that the momentum really shifted our way. A lovely pass from Ethan Nwaneri to Noni Madueke brought about another corner. The front post delivery from the latter was good, and the header from Gabriel Martinelli even better to put us 2-1 in front.

Mikel Merino, our best player in the first half, created another chance for Martinelli which he curled just wide, and the Brazilian ought to have scored his second of the game when Ben White’s fantastic delivery found him with just a tap-in, but he stabbed the ball off the post instead. It was all Arsenal, and when Madueke was fouled in the box, the referee awarded a penalty. The former Chelsea man stepped up to take it, puffed out his cheeks, did the kind of stuttery-run up that makes you look like a chump if you miss … and promptly fired the ball wide of the right hand post. A really bad penalty, but kind of in keeping with his all-round performance which was busy but ultimately lacking in conviction … aside from his corner deliveries.

In the second half, after receiving some words of ‘encouragement’ from Arteta at the break, we stepped it up, although White had to produce an excellent block in our box to deny Portsmouth a shot on target. Almost immediately, we extended the lead. Madueke was fouled in midfield, quick thinking from Myles Lewis-Skelly saw him find Gabriel Jesus, and his ball to the back post was tucked away with no mistake this time by Martinelli to make it 3-1.

A 69th minute triple-change was notable for the return of Kai Havertz, and the German got involved quickly with some nice, secure touches and link play. It was his good pass to Madueke that brought about another corner after the winger’s shot was deflected behind. Madueke delivered again, Martinelli produced another excellent flicked header, and that completed his first ever hat-trick for Arsenal.

Marli Salmon came on to become the club’s youngest ever player in the FA Cup, and Portsmouth finished the game with 10 men after picking up an injury when they’d used all their subs. In the end, a comfortable afternoon despite the early scare, and some useful minutes for certain players who, if I’m being a bit diplomatic, looked a touch rusty at times.

Afterwards, Mikel Arteta said:

We started the game exactly how we didn’t want to, giving them momentum and an early goal and hope, and then we had to fight it back, and credit to them because they made it difficult for us especially in the early stages of the game. The more we started to do the simple thing right, and be a little more dominant, then the quality took over.

And had words of praise for Gabriel Martinelli’s attitude in a week when the spotlight was overly-focused on him because of that incident in the Liverpool game. Which, if you were watching on TNT Sports, they seemed to bring up every 2 minutes for no good reason:

I love it, because of every context that you throw him in. Sometimes he doesn’t play, sometimes he performs well or not well the next one. Today he scored three goals, tomorrow he’s going to train a hundred miles an hour. He’s not going to change that – and that’s Gabi.

Martinelli is now our leading scorer this season, with 9 goals in all competitions, and hopefully that’s race between our players that will yo-yo a bit as others find their shooting boots. The return of Havertz is very welcome too, of course, and on him the manager said:

The last few minutes, I was just watching him move and his awareness, the way he needs to move, when he needs to move in relation to where he moves, it’s just a joy to watch. We’ve missed him big time; he’s back with us, and now we need to maintain him on the field because he’s a very important player for us.

He did have a shot with almost the final touch of the game, but it was blocked, but ultimately having him back and getting some minutes under his belt was more important than a goal. What else? Well, I know I wrote last week about Ethan Nwaneri and a possible loan move, but I liked his performance yesterday. Once we gathered our collective composure, something I think Merino was fundamental to in the first half in particular, Nwaneri impressed me with the way he used the ball. There was one absolutely inch-perfect pass to Eze, threaded through a crowded area in midfield, that was so good. He could have taken the easy option, but I like that he tried, and executed, the more difficult one.

So, a promising run-out for him, and I liked Ben White’s performance at right-back too. He didn’t have a lot of defensive help from Madueke, who seemed determined to make his life a bit more difficult than it needed to be, but he did well, should have had an assist for that Martinelli chance, and gave us some classic Ben White when he just shoved a bloke over after being nutmegged. I love Jurrien Timber, but I’ve missed those nuggets of Benny Blanco.

We now go into the draw for Round 4, which takes place later this evening. I hope it’s another relatively kind one but we’ll find out in due course. Stand by for an Arsecast Extra, as always. We’ve already put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com. So fire away using the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server. The pod should be out around noon today.

For now, have a good one.

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