A rain-soaked Emirates Stadium played host to a drab 0-0 draw between Arsenal and Liverpool on Thursday night and tempers flared towards the end of the second half as Gabriel Martinelli pushed an evidently injured Conor Bradley off the pitch. Reds boss Arne Slot is being praised for his post-match reaction to said incident.
In what was a game of two halves, the Gunners suffocated Slot's men in the first half but were unable to convert any of their nine shots. The second period was much different: Liverpool looked much the better team but, again, no shots were converted.
The visitors, who retain their spot in fourth, would've walked away the much happier of the two sides. The Gunners, led by Mikel Arteta, may rue their missed chance of going eight points clear at the summit of the Premier League – but any sort of subplots were overshadowed by the clash between Martinelli and Bradley near the end of the encounter.
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Slot's Post-Match Reaction to Martinelli Pushing Bradley
Arne Slot
Bradley, who was eventually replaced by Joe Gomez in Liverpool's only substitution on the night, went to ground in the fourth minute of injury time with what appeared a knee injury when challenging for possession with Arsenal's Martinelli, who first dropped the ball on the Northern Ireland international before trying to push him off the pitch.
He did so that play could resume sooner rather than later – but the Liverpool players were unhappy with the Brazilian's actions. Even Gary Neville – who was commentating on the match next to Peter Drury on Sky Sports – said: “I’m actually fuming with Martinelli. I don’t know how Liverpool players didn’t go over and absolutely whack him.”
Watch the incident between Martinelli and Bradley below:
Martinelli's thoughtless action sparked a melee between the two teams, with Martinelli and Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate both put into Anthony Taylor's book for their involvement. Slot, who is now awaiting to find out the extent of Bradley's injury, took a more measured approach.
"I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli, but he comes across as a nice guy," he said. "I think the problem for him is, and it’s a problem in general in football, that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending they are injured in the final parts of the game, that you can then sometimes be annoyed if you want to score a goal that you think the player is time-wasting.
gabriel martinelli ibrahima konate
“I cannot ask from Gabriel Martinelli in the 94th minute when it’s so emotional for him to understand he is playing Liverpool – a team when we played Leeds and a player was held but didn’t go to the floor, or played West Ham United and my players try to drag Paqueta out of a situation where he was getting a second yellow card.
“I’m 100% sure that if he knew what the injury might be that he would never do [what he did]. But it doesn’t look great if he (Bradley) has the injury which we fear he might have.
“But time-wasting and diving in football has come to the situation where players think in the 94th minute that it’s happening again, because I’ve seen it happen against us so many times this season," the 47-year-old Dutchman. "I can understand Martinelli might have thought this was time-wasting and didn’t think this was Liverpool.”
Slot Praised for Take on Martinelli-Bradley Incident
Arne Slot
Although Slot – widely regarded as one of the best managers in world football – took a relaxed approach to Martinelli's behaviour, Roy Keane agreed with his former teammate Neville. "I'm surprised the Liverpool players didn't go after Martinelli a bit more," he said before adding, "That behaviour is a disgrace. Not good scenes. Hopefully Martinelli will go over and apologise for it."
That said, the Liverpool manager has been praised by Arsenal fans for his level-headed response. "Slot’s comments re Martinelli were mature, reasonable & designed to diffuse a situation that some media outlets were desperate to over-blow out of desperation for a talking point. He also took the opportunity to raise an actual issue in our game, so fair play.
"If Martinelli understands the potential extent of the injury, he doesn’t do that. I’m sure he’s apologised to Bradley & wished him a speedy recovery (as do we all)."
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Martinelli has been called out for his behaviour in the Premier League clash.
Martinelli, 24, has taken to Instagram to inform supporters that he had apologised to his Liverpool counterpart for how he acted, blissfully unaware of the extent of his pain.
The aforementioned fan concluded that Drury's response was far more considered than that of Neville. "Peter Drury nailed it when he said Martinelli failed to ‘read the room’. Gary Neville reckons the Liverpool players should ‘whack him’. When did one of the best pundits we had turn into just another click-baiter constantly after a soundbite that sticks."