Slott defends Martinelli over Bradley injury

Arne Slott and Mikel Arteta defended Gabriel Martinelli after the Arsenal striker sparked a scuffle trying to push the injured Connor Bradley off the pitch – but Dominic Soboslai, Roy Keane and Daniel Sturridge were more critical of the controversial incident.

Knowing victory would put the leaders eight points clear, Martinelli tried to push the bedridden Reds defender off the pitch during second-half stoppage time in the 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium, with the Northern Ireland captain injured and having to be carried off the pitch with a knee problem.

« I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli, but he seems like a good guy, » Slott said, arguing that cheating hurts the game.

« The problem with him – and it’s a problem in football in general – is that there is so much time-wasting and players pretending to be injured in the latter part of games that sometimes you can get annoyed if you want to score a goal, (when) you think a player is wasting time.

« The football, the wasting of time, the diving got to the point where the players think, in the 94th minute, that it’s happened again – because I’ve seen it happen against us so many times this season that I can understand that Martinelli might have thought it was a waste of time too. »

« I hope Martinelli went into the dressing room and apologized »

Gary Neville hopes Gabriel Martinelli has apologized to Conor Bradley. pic.twitter.com/ZDPQKXAij0

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 8, 2026

Gabriel Martinelli: ‘No intention’ on Connor Bradley

Arteta, whose side are six points clear of Manchester City and Aston Villa after 21 games of the season, said Martinelli « probably didn’t realize » the extent of the injury to Bradley, who was replaced by Joe Gomez.

« Knowing Gabi, it’s not intentional, » Arteta told Sky Sports. « I don’t know what happened to Connor – I hope it’s nothing bad – but Gabby has no intention of harming him. »

Former Reds striker Sturridge was less forgiving. « I can see maybe (Martinelli’s) (Bradley’s) thinking is wasting time, but you have to be aware enough to know, ‘okay, great – the guy’s down’. It’s just disrespectful – probably even worse than disrespectful. »

Seven-time Premier League winner Keane described Martinelli’s behavior as « not good stuff ». « You could say (Bradley) is injured, » added the Manchester United legend.

« He’s not the type of kid to (overreact). If you’re standing over him, you don’t know what kind of injury the player has. It looked pretty bad (and) he’s trying to get him off the field. »

👏❤️ pic.twitter.com/NUVOT3mnAX

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 8, 2026

Arsenal v Liverpool: Bradley injury ‘so much pain’

Szoboszlai stressed that Bradley did not try to stay on the pitch to slow the game down as Liverpool secured a draw that many did not expect against the opposition 14 points above them.

« I saw Conor twisted his knee, » said the Hungarian playmaker. “He was just in so much pain that he couldn’t even think where he rolled.

« I understand that (Martinelli) wants to win – we want to win too – but the health of the player is much more important. »

The slot named Leeds United as one of the teams who tested the limits of the rules against them and accused West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta of « trying everything » to earn a second booking for one of his players.

« I can’t ask Gabriel Martinelli – in the 94th minute when it’s so emotional – to understand that he’s playing (against) Liverpool, » he offered, explaining how his team is committed to honesty.

« You can’t expect Martinelli to think that clearly in the 94th minute. I’m 100% sure that if he knew what the injury could be, he would never have done it.

« But it doesn’t look great if (Bradley) has the injury we fear he might have if you have to go out on a stretcher. We have to wait for the scan. Maybe he will be able to play on Monday (at home to Barnsley in the FA Cup) – hopefully. »

Liverpool so close to the lead!

Conor Bradley’s effort CRASHES the post! 💥 pic.twitter.com/ylmgvHplPs

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 8, 2026

Arsenal vs Liverpool: Premier League Stalemate

The visitors’ full-back Bradley came closest to breaking the deadlock in spectacular style, firing against the crossbar from distance in the first half after Ballers keeper David Raya met William Saliba’s quick reverse pass and slotted the ball straight to him.

Liverpool grabbed more of the momentum after play resumed after a penalty appeal was dismissed by video assistant referee review for Leandro Trossard’s challenge on Florian Wirtz.

Arsenal’s next match is against second division Portsmouth in the FA Cup third round on Sunday (14:00 GMT). Liverpool host the Third Division Tykes at the same stage of the competition the following day (7.45pm).

You can experience 101GreatGoals.com live updates of Arsenal vs Liverpool in the Premier League here.

Arsenal team vs Liverpool

Winger Max Daumann and defender Cristian Mosquera (both with an ankle) remain out for Arsenal, as does full-back Ricardo Calafiori with an unspecified problem.

Striker Kai Havertz was left out of the 3-2 win against Bournemouth four days earlier for workload management purposes, but this time he started, as did Bukayo Saka.

Martinelli and Noni Madueke moved to the bench.

Arsenal starting XI: David Raya, Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Piero Hincapie, Martin Odegaard, Martín Zubensedi, Declan Rice, Bukayo foot, Viktor Gyokeres, Leandro Trossard

Arsenal Reserves: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Ben White, Gabriel Jesus, Eberechi Eze, Gabriel Martinelli, Christian Norgaard, Noni Madueke, Mikel Merino, Miles Lewis-Skelley

May it not be this time for Dominik Soboslay! ❌ pic.twitter.com/IT3LgS2kbY

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 8, 2026

Team Liverpool vs Arsenal

Jeremy Frimpong replaced Curtis Jones at Liverpool. Midfielder Wataru Endo is injured and striker Alexander Isaac has a broken leg.

Defender Giovanni Leoni had a long-term knee injury and striker Mohamed Salah was at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt.

Liverpool starting XI: Alisson Becker, Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo

Substitutes at Liverpool: Georgi Mamardashvili, Joe Gomez, Federico Chiesa, Curtis Jones, Andy Robertson, Freddie Woodman, Trey Nyoni, Calvin Ramsey, Rio Ngumoha

Arsenal vs Liverpool Stats

• Arsenal have won their previous two Premier League home games against the reigning champions, defeating City in 2023/24 and 2024/25
• They failed to achieve this feat in three consecutive league seasons, as they did between 1961/62 and 1963/64 when they beat Spurs, Ipswich and Everton
• Bukayo Saka missed out on becoming the first Arsenal player to score in four consecutive home games against the Reds
• Arsenal kept a clean sheet for the first time in 21 Premier League games against Liverpool and for the first time since a 0-0 draw in August 2015.
• Only against Manchester United (30 between 1953 and 1968) and Tottenham (24 between 1955 and 1967) have they had a longer clean sheet in their league history
• This was the first Premier League match between Arsenal and Liverpool on a Thursday, with their last Thursday meeting in the league being at Anfield in December 1947 (3-1 win for Arsenal)
• Liverpool are the second team Arsenal have faced on all seven days of the week in the Premier League after Southampton
• Arsenal have won their previous seven Premier League home games – only once under Mikel Arteta have they had a longer winning streak at home, winning 10 in a row between April and December 2022.
• Against no side Arsenal lose more Premier League games than against Liverpool (26, level with Manchester United)
• Liverpool missed out on a Premier League double over Arsenal for the eighth time and first time since 2021/22. Their seven ‘doubles’ are the most any side has against the Gunners in the competition