By Kevin Campbell

6th Sep, 2022 | 3:45pm

Arsenal idol points to controversial report as Gabriel Martinelli footage analysed

Kevin Campbell has pointed to the fact two of the officials were from Manchester when analysing the decision to disallow Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli’s goal on Sunday.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Gunners striker said referee Paul Tierney was “pretty poor” at Old Trafford.

As shown on Sky Sports (4 September), Martinelli looked to have given Arsenal the lead against the Red Devils only for referee Paul Tierney to rule the goal out after reviewing the decision on the pitch-side monitor.

The officials deemed Martin Odegaard to have fouled Christian Eriksen in the build-up to the goal.

As reported by The Sun (3 September), referee Paul Tierney and VAR official Lee Mason are both from Greater Manchester.

Campbell suggested neither should have been allowed to officiate on Sunday’s game.

“I thought this season the referees were going to let the game flow a little bit more,” he told Football Insider.

“I thought that was the direction we were going in.

“If you look closely, Odegaard doesn’t put a challenge in. There is contact but only because he is trying to get close to him. In my eyes, that is not a foul.

“The fact of the matter is, the referee let play go on and Arsenal punished them. Why didn’t the referee stick with his on-field decision? You have got to ask yourself why? He let a lot of things go in that game.

“The question has come up, why were two of the officials for the game from Manchester? I’m not saying they are bias but people will say that. If Leeds were playing Man United and two of the officials are from Yorkshire you would question it.

“The referee was pretty poor. He got the Odegaard one wrong for me.”

In other news, this may be the real reason Arsenal failed to sign Douglas Luiz after source’s reveal.