Arsenal were fortunate not to concede a second against Tottenham and had Gabriel’s ‘crazy’ play-acting to thank, reckons Shay Given.
The Gunners picked up a dominant 4-1 victory at Spurs in the north London derby thanks to two goals each for Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres.
Mikel Arteta’s side was far superior to Igor Tudor’s, but the game remained in the balance into the second half, with the teams level at 1-1 at the break.
Gyokeres put Arsenal back ahead shortly after the interval but Spurs thought they had equalised again through Randal Kolo Muani, who fired past David Raya for the second time.
However, the goal was disallowed for a push in the back of Arsenal defender Gabriel and the visitors powered on to a big win.
Given feels the Gunners were quite fortunate, believing Gabriel went down very easily and was lucky to get the decision from the referee.
‘This could have made it 2-2. You’d imagine in a north London derby, how much the stadium would have erupted if it had been allowed,’ the former Newcastle and Manchester City goalkeeper said on Match of the Day.
‘I just think it’s soft. [Referee] Peter Banks gives it. There’s a coming together, but this is the Premier League and it’s a physical sport, there are coming togethers. I’m going to barge him, I’m going to bump him.
‘The way Gabriel has gone down. I don’t want to be too strong here but the BAFTAs are up the road and look at his legs up in the air. It’s crazy. I think Peter Banks could have let that go or at least spoke to VAR.
‘Arsenal were the much better team today, but it’s the psychology in the title race. How do the Arsenal players react?’
Given pointed out two examples this season he believed to be very similar, but a push on a defender was not given by the referee.
Leny Yoro against Fulham, leading to a Manchester United goal, and Hugo Ekitike when he scored for Liverpool against Spurs, stood out as being inconsistent to Sunday’s decision.
Former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy agrees and thinks Tottenham can feel aggrieved by the decision.
‘The reality is, if you love football and enjoy watching it, you don’t expect 6’4″ centre-halves to be falling over,’ said Murphy. ‘But, to be fair to Gabriel, he knows generally that if you get a touch in the back and you go over you’re going to get it, so it’s a kind of chicken and egg thing.
‘The referees have got to be stronger. The two examples you’ve shown are more or less exactly the same, so they’ve got a reason to feel disappointed today, Tottenham.’
Spurs boss Tudor said of the incident: ‘Oh, you know about this, touching the players in the box.
‘It’s always about referees here. They have their eyes, they make decisions every time, you know. How they feel. How they see. So it’s nothing. Sometimes they leave. Sometimes, no. This is how it is.’
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