Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli has issued an apology to Liverpool’s Conor Bradley after shoving the defender while he was injured during Thursday’s Premier League encounter.
The match at the Emirates Stadium ended in a frustrating 0–0 draw for Arsenal against the reigning champions, a result that kept the Gunners six points clear at the top of the table.
Tensions flared in stoppage time of the second half when Bradley went down near the touchline with an injury. The Liverpool full-back, who had earlier struck the crossbar, was eventually stretchered off, with manager Arne Slot expressing concern that the issue could be a serious knee injury.
Before medical staff attended to Bradley, Martinelli was seen bouncing the ball off the injured player and attempting to push him off the pitch in a bid to restart play. The incident drew widespread criticism from fans and pundits, including Sky Sports analysts Gary Neville and Roy Keane.
Martinelli later addressed the situation on Instagram, saying: “I really didn’t understand he was seriously injured in the heat of the moment. I want to say I’m deeply sorry for reacting. Sending Conor all my best again for a quick recovery.”
Slot defended the Arsenal winger, suggesting he would not have behaved that way had he realised the extent of Bradley’s injury.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also played down the incident, saying: “[Martinelli] is an incredible, lovely guy. I don’t know what happened to Conor, but hopefully it’s not bad. Obviously, there is no intention from Gabi to do anything bad to him.”
The incident came amid a subdued attacking performance from Arsenal, who managed just nine shots and an expected goals tally of 0.57, failing to seriously trouble Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.
Liverpool were also blunt in attack, failing to register a single shot on target in a Premier League match for the first time since March 2010 against Wigan Athletic.
The stalemate marked the first 0–0 draw between Arsenal and Liverpool in the league since August 2015, following a run of 79 goals across their previous 20 meetings at an average of 3.95 goals per game.
