Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli has been heavily criticised for pushing Liverpool’s Conor Bradley off the pitch while he was badly injured.
The Reds right-back ended up having to be stretchered off at the Emirates Stadium, but it seems that Martinelli initially shoved him as he thought he was time-wasting towards the end of the game.
Martinelli is now being criticised by journalists on X for his “shocking” behaviour towards Bradley, whose injury proved to look pretty serious.
It remains to be seen exactly how long Bradley could be looking at with this injury, but it’s never a good sign if a player has to go off on a stretcher.
Disgusting from Martinelli here.
Fair play to Dom for taking none of the Brazilian’s nonsense and shoving him backpic.twitter.com/vGzImxiFit
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) January 8, 2026
Gabriel Martinelli criticised for “shocking” incident with Conor Bradley
See below as the likes of Henry Winter and James Pearce tear into Martinelli over this controversial incident…
That is shocking from Martinelli. Bradley clearly in pain. Didn’t need pushing off the pitch by Martinelli. Bradley now going off on a stretcher. Martinelli should feel ashamed of himself. #ARSLIV
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) January 8, 2026
Martinelli is a disgrace
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 8, 2026
That is absolutely appalling from Gabriel Martinelli. What is he playing at?
— David Lynch (@davidlynchlfc) January 8, 2026
Pretty poor from Martinelli there. Wouldn’t expect him to have seen what happened to Bradley but there’s just no need to do that to any opponent.
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) January 8, 2026
Martinelli is a fine player on his day but he didn’t show the best side of himself here, and it perhaps shows that Arsenal were slightly rattled by Liverpool this evening.
Mikel Arteta’s side had the chance to go eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, but were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw.
This means Arsenal are still six points ahead of Man City, but one imagines they’ll feel like this was a missed opportunity after Pep Guardiola’s side were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton yesterday.
Liverpool haven’t been at their best this season, but will feel they proved a point in north London tonight with a strong defensive display to silence the home crowd.
Tempers really seemed to boil over at the end after this Martinelli incident, which was really one of the highlights of what ultimately proved to be a pretty forgettable game.
