Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the 2025/26 Premier League table with a narrow 1-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion but ex-PGMOL chief Keith Hackett has claimed that referee Chris Kavanagh missed a ‘clear offence’ against Brighton.
Mikel Arteta’s men had Bukayo Saka – following him putting pen to paper on a new five-year deal – to thank for opening the scoring inside nine minutes via a deflection.
Arsenal’s defensive nous then came to the fore as Brighton pushed and prodded for an equaliser at the Amex Stadium but Gabriel Magalhaes and co. kept them out.
It was a big win for Arsenal – who have finished runners up in three seasons on the bounce – and they’ll be looking ahead as the fixtures continue to come thick and fast. Mansfield Town, Bayer Leverkusen and Everton all await a challenge with the Gunners.
Brighton fans were incensed over Martinelli incident on stroke of half-time
Arsenal’s three points on the south coast didn’t come without its controversy and Hackett, as a result, has given his verdict on a ‘clear offence’ which was missed by the officials.
On the stroke of half-time, the fans from the home end were incensed when Martinelli appeared to pull Mats Wieffer to the ground.
Martinelli, who received a 4/10 rating from ReadArsenal on the back of his tepid performance, bundled over the Dutchman in the Arsenal box just as the home side looked to whip a ball into the danger area.
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Not seen by Kavanagh given its off-the-ball nature, those manning VAR checked and cleared the offence and play resumed as normal. In fact, the VAR decided not to recommend an on-field review.
“The referee’s call of no penalty to Brighton & Hove Albion for the challenge by Martinelli on Wieffer was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed there was no clear and obvious error,” wrote the Premier League Match Centre.
Hackett slams Kavanagh and VAR for missing ‘clear offence’ in Brighton 0-1 Arsenal
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider after Brighton fell at the hands of the league leaders in a 1-0 defeat, Hackett – a former referee and ex-PGMOL chief – claimed that Brighton deserved a penalty kick.
“Another clear holding offence for which Brighton should’ve had a penalty kick awarded. [It] was not given by the match officials. Howard Webb needs to get his referees together, he needs to sit them in a room and they should start to determine what is holding and what is not holding. This [the Martinelli incident] is holding,” he said.
“They can use this video clip as a training module to improve the current refereeing standards. They’re not good enough, it’s as simple as that. Managers are complaining; fans are complaining; everybody is complaining.
“I’m complaining because I put a lot of effort in to establish the PGMOL to deliver better performances than we are currently witnessing. We’ve gone backwards and the decline needs to stop,” Hackett continued before adding, “What is happening to the standard and consistency of law application by our match officials? I would suggest that they are confused.”
