‘It’s NOT a foul!’: Pundits claim Gabriel Martinelli’s goal at Old Trafford should have stood

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has slammed the ‘ridiculous’ decision to rule out Arsenal’s opening goal against Manchester United on Sunday.

Mikel Arteta’s side thought they’d taken the lead after Martin Odegaard won the ball off Christian Eriksen before setting Gabriel Martinelli in on goal, who tucked the ball into the net. 

However, VAR overturned the goal claiming that Odegaard fouled Eriksen, to which the Sky Sports pundits rebuked that the Dane was simply too ‘weak’.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said that the goal should have stood and Eriksen was too ‘weak’

At half-time, Hasselbaink said: ‘I think it’s ridiculous to go back to that. I don’t think it’s a foul. Eriksen is just weak there. They say they’ve changed, that they’re going to be more lenient. 

‘Yes, he [Odegaard] doesn’t make contact with the ball, but you’re allowed to have contact with players. He’s being weak. For me it’s not a foul.

‘You don’t have to touch the ball. He’s not kicking the player. He’s just coming in contact, and that’s allowed. Why is that a free-kick?’ 

Fellow pundit Roy Keane was in agreement, but admitted he understood why it was given as a foul.

Keane said: ‘It’s happened a few times in the first-half, a number of players are doing it. They’re staying down when they get touched. I don’t like to see it but the way the game is going, I suppose it is a foul.’ 

Arsenal’s Odegaard (L) was judged to have pushed Eriksen in the back when tackling him

Eriksen found himself in trouble when the Arsenal captain ran up from behind him and won the ball, whilst giving the Dane a slight nudge in the back. 

The Norweigan threaded a pass through to Martinelli, who made no mistake in curling the ball past David de Gea, before Paul Tierney was advised to check the monitor.

After careful deliberation, he judged that Odegaard had been too aggressive in his play.