Martinelli after Villa draw: ‘We have to keep going and improving’ | OneFootball

Gabriel Martinelli says Arsenal must keep improving after conceding a two goal lead to draw with Aston Villa.

Martinelli opened the scoring for the Gunners in the first half, with Kai Havertz adding to the Brazilian’s goal early in the second half. However, Villa thought back and scored twice in three minutes to draw level out of nothing.

From that point, Mikel Arteta’s side searched for an equaliser, and after Havertz’s second of the game was ruled out for handball, the north Londoners had to settle for a point. Martinelli says his side must only focus on themselves as with the gap to Liverpool up to six points.

“It’s a disappointing day. We wanted to win the game, but we have to keep going,” Martinelli said. “We trust in ourselves, and we have to keep going and improving – it is a long journey to go. We have to focus on ourselves. That’s football, that’s the Premier League, the most difficult league in the world.

“We have to see the game and see what we have done wrong and improve for the next games. We know our qualities and we know the potential we have and we trust in ourselves.”

Youri Tielemans, who kick started the Villa fight back, believes a point is what his side deserved after a passive first hour of the match.

“We came back really well into the game,” Tielemans said. “The [first] goal gave us freedom and belief. It’s not an easy task. They were on top of us for 60 minutes. I saw the space and tried to jump into it. Good goal.

“From our point of view [a good result] is always deserved. We take the point and move forward. They had many chances but we defended with our bodies on the line. 2-2 is a good result for us. First half we had a couple of counters, misplaced passes from me which could have put Ollie Watkins in.

“We fought really well to come back into the game.”