Gabriel Martinelli’s early celebration was ‘disrespectful’ for Arsenal says Gabby Agbonlahor

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Gabby Agbonlahor has slammed Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli for showing a ‘lack of respect’ during their victory over Aston Villa.

Mikel Arteta’s side ran out 4-2 winners in a thrilling match at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime.

Villa led 1-0 and 2-1 during the match but it looked as though it was heading for a draw with the scores tied at 2-2 heading into second half injury time.

However, Jorginho’s strike smashed the crossbar before hitting Emiliano Martinez on the back of the head and giving Arsenal a late, late lead.

Minutes later, Martinez attempted to make amends by going up to attack a corner.

It led to an Arsenal break and Fabio Vieria finding Martinelli who had the simple task of walking the ball into the back of the net.

But before he found the back of the net, the Brazilian cheekily celebrated prematurely.

Cheeky.

However, not everyone was impressed by Martinelli’s early celebrations.

Step forward, Agbonlahor.

The former Aston Villa man believes Martinelli showed ‘a lack of respect’ before he scored.

“I thought Arsenal were impressive second half,” Agbonlahor admitted. “They didn’t turn up first half but second half, they were relentless. Saka, getting at players. Xhaka, Odegaard were finding space. Arsenal thoroughly deserved the win but there were a part of the game I didn’t like…

“I didn’t like Martinelli running through and he’s celebrating before he’s put the ball in the back of the net. He’s been rubbish for a month and he’s scoring a tap-in and celebrating before he scores.”

As you can imagine, Agbonlahor got a lot of hate for his controversial opinion.

After all, he is an Aston Villa supporter so it’s probably just bitterness after the result.

Arsenal’s Saturday got even better later in the day.

Manchester City had the opportunity to go back above the Gunners with victory away to Nottingham Forest.

But they could only draw 1-1 after Chris Wood’s late equaliser.

It leaves Arsenal two points clear of City with a game in hand.

Martinelli may have celebrated his goal early but absolutely no one associated with Arsenal will be celebrating a title victory early.

There is still a long way to go and they still need to face Pep Guardiola’s side again.

But bouncing back from three matches without a win is absolutely huge.

Advantage Arsenal once again.