3 weeks ago
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Gabriel Magalhaes was fortunate to not have been given his marching orders at the Gtech Community Stadium on Thursday night
Keith Hackett believes Gabriel Magalhaes should've been sent off during Arsenal's 1-1 draw to Brentford. The 28-year-old defender started and captained the Gunners at the Gtech Community Stadium on Thursday night as they conceded ground in the Premier League title race.
Gabriel was booked inside the opening half an hour for a foul on Igor Thiago. He was then involved in another incident towards the end of the second half, conceding a free-kick in a dangerous position after swinging his leg into the midriff of Dango Ouattara.
The Brazil international flung his arms up in the air to plead his innocence. Despite bringing down the Bees forward under the nose of the linesman, Gabriel escaped further punishment and helped Arsenal hold onto a point.
In an interview with Football Insider after the game, Hackett described the challenge as 'reckless'. The former PGMOL chief said: "The challenge by Gabriel is reckless and not the type of challenge you make when you’re already on a yellow card. The referee has clearly given him the benefit of the doubt on this one."
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Meanwhile, speaking to TNT Sports, Keith Andrews claimed Gabriel was lucky to not have been shown a red card for his mis-timed tackle. The Brentford boss said: "It was a definite yellow, yeah.
"It was a definite yellow. I just feel like the first few fouls always set the bar for how they referee the game, there’s always that level isn’t there and then it felt a few times in the first half we weren’t getting quite the rub of it."
Despite the decision falling in the visitors' favour, Andrews applauded his players for their performance. He continued: "It was a game that had everything. There was a lot of action.
"In the first half, I thought we were brilliant, played really well and were the better team. In the first 15-20 minutes of the second half, they were very good and gained control of it, which they can do because they're a top team.
"They got the goal, but the way we reacted to that with the spirit, character and ability we showed was outstanding. If any team was going to win it, I felt it was probably going to be us.
"We were pushing and consistently looking like the team that was going to go on and win it."
Gabriel wasn't the only Arsenal player to get off scot-free during the clash against Brentford. Hackett believes Noni Madueke should face retrospective action after a dive in the opposition box went unpunished.
"This is a clear act of simulation, attempting to deceive the referee, who, in fairness, did not buy the dive," said the former FIFA referee. "However, referee John Brooks, at this point, should have issued the appropriate sanction of a yellow card.
"If referees are not going to apply a sanction for these incidents, we will continue to see growth. I will continue to say that, where no sanction is applied, I would like an independent review panel to investigate and review these acts and issues retrospective action."
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