Arsenal have just been beaten 2-1 by Manchester City in the Premier League.
The Gunners looked a lot better than they have done recently, but goals from Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland sealed the win for Pep Guardiola’s side.
City will be delighted with the win, but there was an incident in the game where their fans will feel that they were on the receiving end of a wrong decision.
That involved Gabriel Magalhaes, and Gary Neville had his say on the incident.
🔴 Was Gabriel Magalhaes lucky not to have seen red vs Man City?
Gary Neville says Gabriel Magalhaes should’ve been sent off during Man City vs Arsenal
Gabriel arguably had the worst game of his season against Manchester City.
The Arsenal number six failed to get the better of Cherki for the opening goal, and he was troubled by the Frenchman again later in the same half. Then, he failed to stop Haaland from scoring the winner.
The former Lille star had his usual tussles with the Norwegian on multiple occasions.
At first, the Brazilian tore the City striker’s shirt. Later on, the two players went head-to-head – literally – with the Arsenal man then leaning towards him.
Every Arsenal fan’s heart would’ve skipped a beat at that moment because he could’ve seen a red card for that. However, referee Anthony Taylor and the VAR both settled for a yellow card.
Neville, who was on commentary on Sky Sports, believes the defender got away with it there.
He said: “Now why did you do that, Gabriel?
“You can put your heads against each other, I got done in a game a long time ago, the moment you throw it forward you get a red.
“I can’t believe that’s not a red to be honest.”
Simple question: How do Arsenal win the Premier League title from here?
Former Premier League referee Mike Dean delivers verdict on Gabriel-Haaland incident
We hate agreeing with Neville, but he is right there.
That was an extremely risky move by Gabriel, and if it wasn’t such a big clash between the two sides, we think he would’ve seen a red card.
Former referee Mike Dean, however, believed at first that a yellow card was the right decision, but he then changed his mind and claimed that the Arsenal man should have received his marching orders.
He told Sky Sports: “They have gone head to head, it’s not excessive force by Gabriel, the way the game has gone with them two, I’d say a yellow card is just right, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if Gabriel had been sent off.”
“Just looking at it again, Gabriel is very lucky not to be sent off. I think he’s very lucky, very lucky indeed.”
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