By Gabriel Agbonlahor

9th Jan, 2022 | 7:30am

Agbonlahor swipes at 'stupid' Gabriel as Arsenal man banned after twist this week

It was “very, very silly” for Gabriel to be sent off as Arsenal fell to a 2-1 defeat to Man City on Saturday (1 January), according to Gabby Agbonlahor.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Aston Villa and England attacker claimed an experienced player like Gabriel should have known better.

The defender was shown a first yellow card for scuffing up the penalty spot as Man City prepared to take their controversial spot-kick.

He was shown a second yellow card shortly after when he bodychecked Gabriel Jesus on the halfway line.

Given it was his first red card of the season and it came after two yellow cards the Brazilian will now serve a one-match suspension.

He was due to be unavailable for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg with Liverpool but that was postponed on Wednesday (5 January) after a number of covid cases in the opposition camp.

Therefore he will serve the ban as Arsenal travel to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round on Sunday (9 January).

Asked for his verdict on Gabriel’s red card, Agbonlahor told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley: “That’s silly.

“For an experienced player, it’s very silly.

“The first one, ok, these things happen. But the second one, you know you’ve been booked so don’t do silly fouls.

“It was stupid from Gabriel as an experienced defender.”

Gabriel has started Arsenal’s last 17 Premier League games after missing the opening three fixtures through injury.

The defeat to Man City was his 50th competitive appearance for the Gunners across all competitions.

In other news, an insider has revealed Arsenal will ‘suffer massively’ as Tottenham are set to ‘take advantage’ of a ‘big blow’.