One game confirmed everything Arsenal fans thought about Gabriel Martinelli

For just the second time since 2021, Arsenal are through to the FA Cup fourth round. On Sunday, despite falling behind inside three minutes, the Gunners fought back to swat aside Portsmouth 4-1 at Fratton Park. Gabriel Martinelli was the hero by the South Coast, scoring his first-ever senior hat-trick.

Arsenal are record 14-times FA Cup winners, but it is not often that a player bags a hat-trick in the competition, as the table below documents:

Arsenal FA Cup hat-trick scorers (1960-present)

In the present day, Martinelli is now the Gunners' top scorer this season with nine goals. His exploits at Portsmouth saw him leapfrog Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Viktor Gyökeres, all of whom have seven across all competitions.

With six more matches to come in January, the hectic month continues against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Gonners will be hoping that the winger can continue this form, having reinforced what most already knew about him.

Gabriel Martinelli's week in the spotlight

On Thursday night, Arsenal and Liverpool played out a very drab goalless draw in North London. It was the first time in exactly 600 Premier League matches that the Reds had failed to have a shot on target, dating back to a 1-0 defeat at Wigan in March 2010. Thus, all onlookers and media members were simply searching for a talking point, which thrust Martinelli into the spotlight.

In the dying seconds of the game, right-back Conor Bradley landed very awkwardly, and it later transpired that he had suffered a long-term, rather serious knee injury. The Northern Irishman writhed in pain on the touchline and, after shuffling a few millimetres back onto the pitch, unaware of how serious the injury was, and assuming the youngster was time-wasting, Martinelli pushed him towards the side of the pitch, which sparked mass fury.

Speaking during Sky Sports commentary, Gary Neville advocated for a Liverpool player to smack the Brazilian and get a red card; rather disgraceful, shameful and irresponsible comments from a high-profile figure. This entire issue was completely overblown and was only a talking point at all because the 94+ minutes of football that preceded it had been so dull.

Nevertheless, Martinell apologised, and Arne Slot spoke very eloquently on the matter, with Arteta later thanking the Dutchman for defusing the situation. At the start of Sunday's cup tie, Martinelli was being booed by the Pompey faithful; by the end, he was holding both the match ball and the player of the match trophy, either side of a beaming smile.

Once again, the 24-year-old showed he performs at his best when under pressure and receiving abuse from opposition supporters. So now, can he add to his two goals at Stamford Bridge during Wednesday's EFL Cup semi-final first leg?