Conor Bradley departed the Emirates on crutches with his knee strapped up, leaving Arne Slot fearing the worst over a potentially serious injury. The Liverpool defender sustained what appeared to be a significant knee problem during the closing stages of their draw with Arsenal. Bradley also found himself at the heart of controversy involving Arsenal substitute Gabriel Martinelli, who threw the ball at the stricken Liverpool right-back as he lay injured on the turf.
Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane branded the incident a “disgrace” given Bradley was clearly in distress, adding to what could prove another major injury headache for Liverpool manager Arne Slot. The defender required assistance from Liverpool staff to leave the ground, appearing to be in considerable discomfort on crutches whilst wearing a protective knee brace. In his immediate post-match reaction, Slot conceded he was ‘hoping for the best, but fearing for the worst’ regarding any update on Bradley’s condition.
Addressing the Martinelli incident, Slot commented: “I think if a player of ours is on the floor, people should know by now that there is something wrong with the player. You don’t like to see a player moved when he might have such a big injury. I didn’t like to see one of my players moved if they have such a big injury, but we don’t know yet.”
Mikel Arteta vigorously backed his player, insisting: “Probably he doesn’t know because knowing Gabi, there is zero intention. I don’t know what happened to Conor, but hopefully it’s not bad, but obviously, there is no intention from Gabi to do anything bad to him.”
However, ex-Manchester United stars Keane and Gary Neville had a very different take on the incident, with the latter labelling the Brazilian ‘an idiot’ during his commentary.
He stated: “I am surprised one of the Liverpool players hasn’t gone over and had a right pop at him. I think an apology is needed. I’m fuming with Martinelli, I don’t know how a Liverpool player didn’t go and whack him and take the red card. Absolutely disgraceful.”
Following the final whistle, Keane chimed in: “I didn’t like it at all. Happened to me once before. It’s not good. First of all throwing the ball on him, standing over him. He’s got a bit of a knee in him, he’s trying to force him off. I think that behaviour is an absolute disgrace.
“I’m surprised the Liverpool players didn’t go after him a little bit more. He’s a good lad to roll round himself, not good scenes hopefully he’ll look at it and hopefully apologise for it.”