Gabriel Martinelli celebrated against Aston Villa even BEFORE he scored for Arsenal in injury time

Gabriel Martinelli left Arsenal fans in stitches after he was spotted celebrating before the ball had even rolled into the back of the empty Aston Villa net.

Arsenal on Saturday produced a stunning second-half comeback at Villa Park to bounce back from their devastating 3-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday.

Ollie Watkins fired Villa into a shock 1-0 lead inside the opening 10 minutes before Bukayo Saka pulled the Gunners level with an important equaliser.

However, former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho restored Villa’s advantage ahead of half-time to leave Arsenal trailing 2-1 at Villa Park.

Oleksandr Zinchenko, who left City last summer to sign for Arsenal, handed the Gunners a fighting chance in the 61st minute by pulling the scoreline level.

Jorginho’s thunderbolt injury-time strike broke the deadlock after smacking against the crossbar and off the back of Emi Martinez’s head before landing in the Villa net.

Arsenal successfully fended off a late Villa corner before Fabio Vieira played through Martinelli as part of the immediate counterattack.

Martinelli charged away with the ball and was spotted celebrating before he rolled the ball into the back of the empty net, with Arsenal sealing an emphatic 4-2 win.

“I LOVE Martinelli so much man,” one fan said.

Gabriel Martinelli celebrated before he had even scored... 🔥 pic.twitter.com/FvkYeyZVYI

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) February 18, 2023

Martinelli scores the fourth and kills the game! #AVLARS

pic.twitter.com/Dc6EWXAuwm

— Reyi (@Reinaldodcg9) February 18, 2023

Someone else posted: “I want to see that picture where Martinelli celebrated before he scored the fourth goal.”

“Martinelli had a lot of time to check if the flag is up, he then celebrated before scoring,” a third Twitter user added.

Another fan wrote: “Vieira celebrating after that final ball to Martinelli is bliss.”

While a fifth tweeted: “What an end! Hilarious from Martinez and beautiful from Vieira and Martinelli!”

Arsenal have returned back to the top of the Premier League table after their win at Villa Park, with City now three points behind the Gunners.

The Gunners will return to action on 25th February when they travel to the King Power for their Premier League clash with Leicester City.