Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has backed match officials for choosing not to send off Arsenal defender Gabriel following a first-half incident in which he caught Chelsea goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez with his boot during Arsenal's victory over their London rivals.
The flashpoint occurred early in the contest, shortly after Chelsea had gone ahead and with Arsenal searching for an immediate response. Martin Odegaard delivered a low free-kick towards the near post, which Riccardo Calafiori failed to convert cleanly as he stretched to make contact while sliding in. The delivery sparked a scramble inside the box involving several players, including Gabriel, Joao Pedro and Jorrel Hato, as Martinez attempted to gather the ball amid the confusion on the ground.
As the goalkeeper tried to secure possession, Gabriel swung his leg toward the ball and, in doing so, struck Martinez on the head. The Argentine goalkeeper needed medical attention before being able to continue, but the referee opted against issuing any card, allowing play to proceed without further punishment for the Brazilian centre-back.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Gallagher reviewed the incident and concluded that the officials had made the correct call, largely because Gabriel appeared to make contact with the ball before his foot rose into Martinez's head. "They're all on the floor," Gallagher explained. "There's a big tangle. He definitely goes to kick the ball and he gets the ball, his foot actually gets the ball."
Gallagher elaborated that Gabriel's touch on the ball was what caused it to spill from Martinez's grasp in the first place. "That's why it pops out of Martinez's hands. Martinez grabs the ball, [Gabriel] goes to kick, gets the ball. Then his foot goes up and catches Martinez in the head," he said.
When pressed on whether Martinez already had control of the ball with both hands at the moment Gabriel made his challenge, Gallagher acknowledged that this was the case but maintained that the defender's intentions were focused solely on winning the ball back amid the chaotic pile-up in the box. "It was but he's gone to kick the ball because there's such a tangle. He's gone to get it," he said, adding that he saw no deliberate intent to harm the goalkeeper. "I don't think there's any malice whatsoever in it."
Former Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood echoed Gallagher's assessment, going further to suggest that Martinez's reaction to the collision was exaggerated. Sherwood argued that Gabriel's foot had grazed the top of the ball before making contact with the goalkeeper, and questioned the way Martinez responded afterward. "I thought his ball slid off the top of the ball and then caught Martinez," Sherwood said. "Martinez makes far too much of it. That's the red flag. If I'm a referee, I'm thinking he's trying his best to get him sent off."
The incident added to the drama of a heated London derby between two sides jostling for position near the top of the Premier League table. While Martinez required brief treatment before resuming his duties in goal, the episode passed without any retrospective disciplinary action being pursued against Gabriel, whose role in Arsenal's win remained a talking point in the aftermath of the fixture.
Based on reporting from Standard Sport.