Gary Neville at centre of X-rated Arsenal chant as Gabriel Martinelli responds in perfect way

Arsenal supporters back Gabriel Martinelli and had choice words for Gary Neville during Sunday's FA Cup win against Portsmouth

Arsenal supporters chanted "Gary Neville is a w*****, is a w*****," during their FA Cup triumph over Portsmouth at Fratton Park - just days after his strong opinion about Sunday's cup hero, Gabriel Martinelli.

The Brazilian ended a tumultuous week by scoring a first-ever career hat-trick in the 4-1 win at Portsmouth. He netted to hand Mikel Arteta's side the lead after they had fallen behind just three minutes into the tie, then twice more after the half-time interval.

Three days earlier, Martinelli had entered Arsenal's Premier League meeting with Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium as a second-half substitute and got caught up in the flashpoint of the match involving visiting defender Conor Bradley.

With Bradley lying on the pitch after appearing to suffer a serious knee injury, the Arsenal star threw the ball at his opponent and pushed him off the pitch. Martinelli was shown a yellow card for the incident, which provoked Liverpool's players and many others watching on.

The very first to react was Neville, who was on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports, and strongly branded the 24-year-old "disgraceful," adding: "I'm fuming with Martinelli. I don't know how Liverpool players didn't go over to absolutely whack him, to be honest with you."

Gunners fans clearly didn't appreciate Neville's words about their player, in turn responding with their X-rated chant as Martinelli produced a man of the match performance in the FA Cup. Still, it seems Martinelli has some distance left to restoring his reputation with opposition supporters.

From the get-go, the attacker was booed and jeered by the home crowd at Portsmouth whenever he touched the ball during Sunday's FA Cup clash, and even after each of his three goals.

This happened after Martinelli published an apology to Bradley on social media following the incident during the Liverpool match.

The Arsenal player wrote: "Conor and I have messaged and I have already apologised to him. I really didn't understand he was seriously injured in the heat of the moment.

"I want to say I'm deeply sorry for reacting. Sending Conor all my best again for a quick recovery."

Liverpool confirmed on Sunday that their full-back is set to sit out the rest of the 2025/26 campaign as a result of his injury, which was not ACL damage but 'significant' damage to the bone and ligaments of his left knee.

Meanwhile, Arteta spoke to the media at Fratton Park about Martinelli's hostile reception and his response by scoring three goals.

"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," the Gunners boss said.

"I think Arne Slot spoke brilliantly after the game, speaking of your opponent in the manner that he explained the situation and the fact that Gabi had no intention whatsoever to damage any player.

"And yeah, that's personality. Come in and talk on the pitch, which is the best part of it."