Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hailed Gabriel Martinelli's mentality after he netted three goals as Arsenal cruised to a 4-1 FA Cup third-round triumph against Championship side Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
The Brazilian winger had faced widespread condemnation following Thursday's incident at the Emirates Stadium, where he threw the ball at Liverpool's injured defender Conor Bradley before attempting to shove him from the field during the goalless encounter.
Manager Mikel Arteta was full of admiration for his forward's mental resilience after the 23-year-old responded to the controversy by delivering a match-winning performance despite facing jeers from the vocal home crowd throughout the rain-drenched contest.
Portsmouth had taken a stunning early lead through captain Colby Bishop, who found the net just three minutes into the match.
TRENDING
Stories
Videos
Your Say
However, Arsenal's response was swift as Andre Dozzell inadvertently turned the ball into his own goal to restore parity.
Martinelli then took centre stage, scoring twice to establish a commanding advantage for the visitors.
Winger Noni Madueke squandered a spot-kick between the Brazilian's first two strikes.
Despite spurning a simple chance when the score stood at 2-1, the Arsenal forward sealed his hat-trick in the 72nd minute, capping off a redemptive afternoon against the second-tier strugglers.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hailed Gabriel Martinelli's mentality after he netted three goals
|GETTy
Arteta said: "That’s personality, come in and talk on the pitch.
"To play for a big club you need a big personality because it can be that (being at the centre of a controversial incident), it can be an action that you miss, it can be something that costs you a game, and three days later there is a game, so you need to lift yourself up and make it count.
"Today he scored three goals, tomorrow he’s going to train a hundred miles an hour, for sure. He’s not going to change that, that’s Gabi.
"It’s part of football and then it’s how you take it. But he knew inside the reason why he did what he did."
LATEST SPORT NEWS
Gabriel Martinelli scored a hat-trick on Sunday
|GETTY
Earlier on Sunday, it was announced Liverpool right-back Bradley was set to undergo knee surgery, which will rule him out of the rest of the season.
Martinelli apologised to the Northern Ireland international following the high-profile flashpoint, having not initially realised the severity of the injury.
Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino said of Martinelli: "We are really happy for him, he’s a great guy. Everyone that knows him knows he’s a really kind kid. He’s always smiling, he’s always kind with everyone. We are very pleased that he’s performing this well.
"Sometimes when you’re on the pitch you don’t have all the information and you can react in a certain way but obviously everyone knows how good of a kid he is and he never tries to make someone feel bad. It’s just a small mistake and he said sorry, and the matter ends there."
Five things to know about Mikel Arteta | REUTERSPremier League leaders Arsenal began four successive away games in four different competitions by reaching round four of the cup for the first time in three seasons after Arteta made 10 changes for the visit to Hampshire.
Arteta said: "When we make that many changes, there is an element of cohesion that is not going to be as perfect as we want.
"We started the game exactly how we didn’t want to: giving them momentum and an early goal and hope. The more we started to do the simple things right and be a little bit more dominant, the quality took over and the margins were bigger."
Portsmouth had not beaten Arsenal in 22 previous meetings and were unable to build on a dream start.