Liverpool
Howard Webb Defends Disallowed Van Dijk Header as Slot Protests Inconsistency
Howard Webb defended the disallowed Van Dijk header; Arne Slot called the decision wrong. Justified.
PGMOL chief Howard Webb has publicly defended the decision to rule out Virgil van Dijk’s header against Manchester City, responding directly to Arne Slot’s complaints about inconsistency.
After an unusually long delay, the assistant referee raised his flag, judging that Andy Robertson was offside and “deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper.” Neither Van Dijk nor Slot were impressed. VAR stood by the on-field call.
Webb set out the officials’ reasoning in detail. “As the ball moves towards Robertson—three yards out from goal in the middle of the six-yard box—he makes that clear action to duck below the ball,” the referees chief explained on Match Officials Mic’d Up . “It goes just over his head and finds the goal in the half of the six-yard box where he is.
“The officials have to make a judgement, did that clear action impact on the goalkeeper and his ability to save the ball? That’s where the subjectivity comes into play. They looked at that action so close to the goalkeeper and formed that opinion.
“I know that’s not a view held by everybody but it’s not unreasonable to understand why [the officials] would form that conclusion when the player is so close to the goalkeeper, the ball is coming right towards him and he has to duck to get out of the way.
“They form the conclusion that it impacts [Gianluigi] Donnarumma’s ability to dive towards the ball and make the save.
“Once they’ve made that on-field decision, the job of the VAR is to look at that and decide, ‘Was the outcome clearly and obviously wrong?’ Only Donnarumma truly knows if he was impacted by this and we have to look at the factual evidence.”
Slot was shown a previous case by a member of Liverpool’s staff. “Immediately after the game, someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed—City against Wolves last season,” he crowed. That Molineux incident in October 2024 saw John Stones’s 95th-minute winner stand despite Bernardo Silva moving out of the ball’s path while stood in an offside position. On that occasion the on-field decision was overturned. As the Premier League explained at the time: “VAR deemed Bernardo Silva wasn’t in the line of vision and had no impact on the goalkeeper.”
Webb rejected the comparison. “There’s a clear difference here in that the ball goes directly over Sá’s head and doesn’t go over the head of Silva,” he sniffed. “He is in an offside position, importantly he moves away from the flight of the ball. ]”
Arsenal
Late Martinelli Push Leaves Conor Bradley’s Knee in Doubt After Stretcher Incident
Conor Bradley may have a serious knee injury after Martinelli’s shove sparked a late brawl. Scans due
Conor Bradley was forced from the pitch on a stretcher after a late knee twist, a sequence that has left Liverpool manager Arne Slot “fearing the worst.” The incident began when Arsenal’s No. 11 dropped the ball onto the prone defender and then attempted to shove him off the field to restart play. That shove ignited a mass brawl which further delayed the match.
Players from Liverpool reacted angrily at what was described as Martinelli’s disregard for a clearly injured opponent. Bradley was later seen leaving the stadium on crutches with his left knee in a brace; there was no suggestion he had been feigning the problem.
Slot was cautious on specifics but clear on the concern. “We have to wait on the scans if it’s that bad,” Slot acknowledged. “But it doesn’t look great if Conor has the injury which we fear he might have.”
The Liverpool manager tempered criticism of the Arsenal forward. “I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli, but he comes across as a nice guy,” he said. “I’m 100% sure that if he knew what the injury might be, that he would never do that,” Slot insisted. “I think the problem for him—and it’s a problem in general in football—is that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending that they are injured in the final parts of the game and during the game, that you can sometimes be annoyed if you want to try to score a goal that you think the player is time-wasting.
“You cannot ask Martinelli to think so clear in the 94th minute.”
Martinelli posted on social media to say he had contacted Bradley. “Conor and I have messaged and I have already apologised to him,” Martinelli wrote on Instagram. “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.”
Arsenal’s manager added a character reference for his player. “Knowing Gabi, if anybody knows Gabi, it’s an incredibly lovely guy and probably he didn’t realise what happened,” the Basque boss declared. “I hope that Conor is well. I will have a word with him now to understand that, but probably he didn’t recognise what happened.”
Broadcasters reacted strongly. Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville called the action unacceptable. “I am actually fuming with Martinelli, I don’t know how the Liverpool players didn’t go over and absolutely whack him to be honest with you and take a red card. Absolutely disgraceful, that,” he seethed. Roy Keane recalled a similar personal experience. “I didn’t like it,” the former Manchester United captain said of the Martinelli incident. “It happened to me when I was badly injured and a player stood over me, and it’s not good.
Arsenal
Arsenal and Liverpool Share 0-0 as Leaders Hold Six-Point Advantage
Arsenal held to 0-0 by Liverpool; leaders, remain six points clear after a cagey, chance-poor match.
Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw by Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, missing the chance to extend their lead to eight points. After the result and with the Premier League pausing for the FA Cup weekend, Arsenal remain six points clear in the 2025/26 title race. Liverpool consolidated a top-four place and extended an unbeaten run to 10 games across all competitions.
The match was divided into two contrasting halves. Arsenal dominated possession early and forced saves from Alisson, who made four in total. A miscommunication between William Saliba and David Raya nearly produced a Liverpool goal when a back-pass almost bypassed the goalkeeper; Conor Bradley’s attempted lob then struck the crossbar. Arsenal finished the first half on top but created few clear chances.
Liverpool improved after the interval and briefly threatened when Florian Wirtz went down under pressure from Leandro Trossard. The VAR decision was ‘no penalty’. Liverpool’s second-half control prompted Mikel Arteta to introduce attacking changes just after the hour, with Viktor Gyökeres substituted in the 64th minute after registering eight touches overall.
Injury disrupted Arsenal: Piero Hincapié was forced off before the hour and Conor Bradley was stretchered off late after a stoppage-time incident involving Gabriel Martinelli, who threw the ball on top of Bradley and attempted to shove him. The incident sparked a strong reaction from Liverpool players and staff.
Key performers from the ratings included Alisson (8.3) keeping a clean sheet, Milos Kerkez (7.5) for his work on the left, and Virgil van Dijk (7.3) who handled Arsenal’s central threats. For Arsenal, Jurriën Timber (7.2), Martín Zubimendi (7.2) and Declan Rice (7.2) were noted for their midfield contributions, while Viktor Gyökeres (6.1) was judged to have minimal impact.
Statistics reflected a cautious affair: Arsenal edged expected goals 0.30 to 0.14 and registered the only shots on target. Neither side produced a match-defining moment in difficult conditions, and the draw leaves both teams to regroup for the FA Cup weekend.
Arsenal
Ekitiké ruled out again as Liverpool travel to Arsenal
Ekitiké was absent with DOMS; he traveled to London but did not feature as Wirtz played ‘false nine’ Thu
Hugo Ekitiké was missing from Liverpool’s matchday squad for the second game running as the Reds travelled to face Premier League leaders at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night. The striker has been Liverpool’s most productive signing from the 2025 summer window, having cost £79 million (106.1 million) to prise away from Eintracht Frankfurt and already scoring 11 times in a Liverpool shirt across all competitions.
That total includes five goals in his last five Premier League appearances, a run that has been particularly important in a season made more difficult by Alexander Isak’s struggles and his subsequent broken leg. Despite his form, Ekitiké was withdrawn from selection because of delayed onset muscle soreness, otherwise known as DOMS, believed to be affecting his hamstring.
Ekitiké did travel to London, with reports saying he did not receive scan results until he was on the plane, and he ultimately did not feature. When Arne Slot answered media questions on Wednesday morning, he explained that Ekitiké had not trained with the rest of the Liverpool squad all week up to that point, the day before the game.
Before kick-off the expectation was that Cody Gakpo would continue to deputise in the No. 9 role, but Liverpool’s starting shape saw Gakpo on the left while Florian Wirtz, who had played in the No. 10 position against Fulham, pushed up as a ‘false nine’ instead.
Slot indicated the issue is not a major injury. He suggested that, had Liverpool not been playing every few days, Ekitiké’s return to full training and match action might have come sooner. With preparations tightly packed around fixtures, opportunities to rejoin sessions are limited and that has kept the striker out for now.
