Gary Neville has had his say on a decision involving Florian Wirtz and Leandro Trossard during the Premier League clash between Arsenal and Liverpool at Emirates Stadium
21:15, 08 Jan 2026Updated 21:31, 08 Jan 2026
Florian Wirtz and Leandro Trossard
View 2 Images
Florian Wirtz wanted a penalty for a foul by Leandro Trossard during Arsenal vs Liverpool
Gary Neville has admitted that Leandro Trossard was fortunate to not give away a penalty during Arsenal's Premier League clash against Liverpool. The Gunners winger stepped across Florian Wirtz, which resulted in him falling to the ground, though Anthony Taylor waved away appeals with VAR in agreement.
Neville, on Sky Sports' co-commentary of the game, was not as convinced as he stated that Trossard made a clumsy attempt to win the ball.
He began: "That's where I would like to see Florian Wirtz a lot more if I was a Liverpool fan. Doesn't he look good when he's weaving in those areas with three or four players around him?
"I thought it was clumsy, actually. Trossard steps cross him. There might not be enough in it but he takes a real chance. It's not great from Trossard, not great at all.
He later added: "We have the VAR screens in front of us and sometimes when you see them carry on looking at it after they have made the decision...'Am I right here or not?"
That was the biggest talking point of a rather uneventful opening 55 minutes though another big incident arrived just moments later involving Piero Hincapie.
As he took a throw-in, Neville noticed the left-back appearing to tell Mikel Arteta that he was struggling.
The summer signing could later be seen hobbling before a break in play allowed him to get treatment. The decision was ultimately made to bring him off with Myles Lewis-Skelly introduced just before the hour-mark.
Arsenal are already without Cristhian Mosquera and Riccardo Calafiori to injury and another defender being out of action would come as a big blow.
Thankfully, those two are on the verge of returning with hope that Kai Havertz will also be back to full fitness soon after missing out on being named in the last two matchday squads.
Kai Havertz of Arsenal reacts
View 2 Images
Kai Havertz was again absent from the Arsenal squad that faced Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)
Arteta said on Calafiori and Mosquera: "I think pretty soon they have to go to the last stage of the rehab, I think everything goes well, hopefully very soon they will be available for selection.
Article continues below
On Havertz, he added: "Yeah, we are monitoring, obviously his load he has been out for a long time for two different reasons and he's very close.
"He trained this [Wednesday] morning again and hopefully we're going to have him available and the best version of Kai Havertz."
With Eberechi Eze not even getting a minute in the last few weeks, it seems very likely that Havertz will be eased back into the fold especially as Arteta has so many attacking options.