Emile Smith-Rowe's handshake snubbed by Arsenal teammate in awkward moment, he looked devastated

Emile Smith-Rowe saw a handshake snubbed by his Arsenal teammate during an awkward exchange.

On Sunday afternoon, Arsenal failed to regain top spot in the Premier League table after they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners an early lead before goals from Raul Jimenez and Bobby Decordova-Reid turned the game around for Marco Silva’s men.

During the second half, an awkward moment between Smith-Rowe and winger Gabriel Martinelli was caught on camera.

In the 67th minute, Martinelli was replaced by Leandro Trossard and as the Brazilian took his place on the bench, Smith-Rowe was caught offering his hand out for a handshake.

To the Englishman’s disappointment, Martinelli snubbed the offer.

Although it looked like Martinelli rejected Smith-Rowe, it could be the case that the Brazilian didn’t see his teammate’s hand when he sat down.

What is everyone’s issue with poor ESR? 🥺pic.twitter.com/RxT9bBBaqk

— Gooner Chris (@ArsenalN7) December 31, 2023

On the back of the defeat, Arsenal are now in fourth place, two points behind league leaders Liverpool, who are set to take on Newcastle United at Anfield on Monday night.

Speaking after the match, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said to Sky Sports: “We weren't good enough. Simple as that. We lost the game three days ago [against West Ham] we fully deserved to win because we were so good. And today we were nowhere near the level.

“We conceded two very similar goals, we gave the ball away and then the organisation in our box and set-plays... we didn't generate enough today, our rhythm wasn't good enough in attack, and defensively we were second best in every action.”

Arteta added: “You have to play 100 minutes in the league so it's not enough to play a few actions. It's a really sad day because today we didn't deserve to win the game.

“We never got going [after changing to 3-5-2 late on in the second half] because we gave every ball away, and we could not dominate the direct play so we didn't do any of those two and it's very difficult to generate any momentum. Credit to Fulham as well.”