Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli in hot water for shove on injured player

A scoreless Premier League meeting between Arsenal and Liverpool ended in controversy after Gabriel Martinelli attempted to push an injured Conor Bradley off the field.

Martinelli’s action sparked a confrontation between the two sets of players as the Liverpool squad came to Bradley’s defense. The Arsenal player has since apologized for his behavior.

The Brazilian was given a yellow card for his push and Bradley was taken away on a stretcher, leaving Liverpool to worry about the severity of his knee injury.

What did Gabriel Martinelli do?

The incident happened in the final stages of the game at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday evening. Liverpool full-back Conor Bradley pulled up near the touchline with was appeared to be a serious, non-contact knee injury.

As Bradley lay on the touchline, with half his body remaining on the field of play, Martinelli attempted to drag him to one side to allow the game to restart. With the scores level, Arsenal knew that a late winner could take them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

Speaking after the game, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was measured in his response. He took exception to Martinelli’s reaction but admitted that soccer does have a problem with players feigning serious injury.

Slot said: “I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli but he comes across as a nice guy and I think the problem for him is, and it’s a problem in general in football, is there’s so much time-wasting and players pretending they’re injured during the game, you can sometimes be annoyed if you want to score a goal and you think a player is time-wasting,”

Similarly, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta insisted that Martinelli was unaware that Bradley was genuinely injured.

“Gabi is an incredible, lovely guy and probably he didn’t realize what happened,” Arteta explained. “I hope that Conor is well. I will have a word with him now to understand that. But probably he didn’t recognize what happened.”