Mikel Arteta reserved special praise for Gabriel Martinelli after the winger turned in a player of the match display on Matchday 3 in the Champions League.
The Brazilian won’t officially be credited with the goal – it’s down as an own goal – but it was all Martinelli’s work that led to the vital breakthrough.
He wasn’t fit enough to start against Bournemouth on Saturday, coming on for the last half hour, and the manager believes he took advantage of that on Tuesday.
“For the goal, for the performance, he looked really sharp,” Arteta said afterwards. “You could tell that he didn’t play 95 minutes and a big chunk of that with ten men (against Bournemouth). He had a different rhythm; different gear and he was a real threat.”
Martinelli was undoubtedly a bright spark on a hard-fought but ultimately hugely important win, to make it seven points from a possible nine at the start of the competition.
“In this format, to win the home matches is going to be super important to get the objectives that we want,” the boss added. “We started the game really well; I think in the first half we were really dominant; we created various chances – four I recall – big chances that we had to put the ball in the back of the net, we didn’t and that gave them a bit of hope.
“In the second half, we started pretty well and then we started to give a little bit back. I think physically and mentally what we went through two-and-a-half days ago paid but it was important and then we didn’t have that clarity, that purpose, we gave some balls away and we didn’t have the same rhythm as we did in the first half.
“And credit to Shakhtar, they are a good side and in spaces can create you problems. Then we had the moment to put the game to bed with the penalty, we didn’t again, we gave them more hope and for us it was a moment to dig back in and manage to end the game and get the result at the end which we’re really happy with.”
The boss finished with a rallying call ahead of our next match – a mouth-watering tie against Premier League pacesetters Liverpool on Sunday back at Emirates Stadium.
“It’s always very great and important to win in the Champions League, we start tomorrow with the preparations and the place has to be rocking here against Liverpool and give us all the possible energy that they can.”
