Arsenal given new red card referee verdict after Gabriel Martinelli admission

Arsenal have been told why the correct decision was made for Brentford star Christian Norgaard not to be sent off for a tackle on .

The were held to a 1-1 draw with the Bees at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday in the Premier League. opened the scoring for Arsenal before Yoane Wissa equalised for the visitors in the second half to see the points shared in North London.

It was in the first half when the scoreline was goalless, where of a tackle from Norgaard. Referee Simon Hooper gave the Brentford midfielder a yellow card before the challenge was checked and cleared by VAR.

After receiving treatment, Martinelli went on to continue the game and play the full 90 minutes at the Emirates. The challenge has been a subject of debate on Sky Sports' Ref Watch show, with former referee Dermot Gallagher giving his verdict and explaining why the correct decision was made.

"High tariff yellow. Not a nice tackle, but I don't think it's enough for a red card," said Gallagher on Sky Sports.

"I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it, though."

Martinelli spoke after the draw with Brentford, where he believed Norgaard should have been sent off for the challenge.

"I didn't see that again but, in my opinion, in the moment, if my foot was on the floor, then he could break my leg," said Martinelli in an interview with Sky Sports.

"He said he didn't mean it - I believe him - but still he could have broken my leg. For me, it was red card. I need to see it again to be sure but, for me, it was nasty."

In an interview with , Norgaard revealed that he apologised to Martinelli for the tackle. "He [Martinelli] accepted my apology and shook my hand," said Norgaard.

"He thought the tackle was maybe harder than I did, but he was fine and (Declan) Rice as well - he said it's part of football, you try and make these tackles to stop transitions and there was no evil intention in the challenge.

"Looking back at it, maybe it was a bit harder than I wanted it to be, but I would never set out to hurt any player intentionally. Sometimes you end up in situations like I did with Jordan Pickford at Everton, where I got a straight red card (which was overturned), but it was never intentional."