Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli has admitted that Christian Norgaard could have broken his leg during Arsenal and Brentford’s Premier League clash
Gabriel Martinelli fumed that Christian Norgaard could have broken his leg during Arsenal and Brentford’s Premier League clash.
Brentford shared the spoils with the Gunners on Saturday evening as they made the shirt journey to north London. However, Norgaard might count himself lucky to be on the pitch after a challenge on Martinelli.
“Yeah, I mean, I haven’t seen it again. But in my opinion, in the moment, if my foot was on the floor he could have broken my leg!”
“He said he didn’t mean it, and I believe him, but it’s still you know, he could have broken my leg. For me it’s a red, but I’ll have to see it again…”
“I think my reaction tells everything,” Arteta admitted. And when asked to clarify on Sky Sports he repeated: “My reaction says everything.”
Speaking at half time on Sky Sports, Steve Sidwell and Jamie Redknapp were split. Sidwell said: “I don’t think there’s real malice in the challenge.
“He goes with his right foot to try to win the ball and the momentum of his left leg takes it round. I think it’s borderline.”
While Redknapp added: “It’s not a great challenge. Martinelli is quicker than him, he lunges. It’s a tackle players and managers don’t like because it can hurt you. He’s not that type of player, we all know that.
“But it’s a desperate lunge. I think in that situation it would have been really harsh for a red card.”
Arteta was asked if the title was gone for the Gunners, and he admitted: “I don’t know, the atmosphere was different to Tuesday, that’s for sure. I don’t know if it was playing in the back [minds] of the crowd, for us as professionals we know the importance of that.
“Today what we wanted to do was increase the probability of us really challenging for what we are looking for in the Premier League. With that result, it’s more unlikely to happen.”