Why Gabriel Martinelli's goal at Everton was disallowed as Gary Neville left "confused"

Gary Neville has questioned VAR and its use to disallow Gabriel Martinelli's goal in Arsenal's game against Everton at Goodison Park - admitting "I am a little confused"

Gabriel Martinelli's strike was ruled out by VAR

Gabriel Martinelli's strike was ruled out by VAR (

Image: Sky Sports)

Updated17:28, 17 Sep 2023

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Gary Neville was left "confused" after Gabriel Martinelli's first-half strike was ruled out for offside during Arsenal's trip to Everton.

Martinelli believed he had scored the opener at Goodison Park when he burst through on goal before slotting the ball into the corner beyond Jordan Pickford. It was an excellent finish from the Brazilian, who thought he had scored his first Premier League goal of the season.

However, the celebrations were cut short when VAR decided that Eddie Nketiah was offside in the build-up and the goal was to be disallowed. Gabriel's pass made its way to Nketiah via a deflection from Beto, before Arsenal finished off the move as Fabio Vieira played in Martinelli and he tucked the ball home.

Many Arsenal fans were left furious with the decision, but as per the offside laws, Beto was judged not to have played the ball deliberately, meaning Nketiah was offside. Despite that, ex-Manchester United defender Neville was not quite sure about the camera angle leading to VAR's decision rule out the goal, either.He told Sky Sports: "Well he’s not offside, Everton aren’t going to get that decision their way. They’re a little bit high up and Martinelli punishes them. In the first 20 minutes of the match, Everton have just waited to get beaten and beaten they will be if they carry on like this. [That’s a] Thierry Henry [finish]!

"[After VAR decision] Well even I am a little confused, I thought he looked well behind the line there. Did they not have a better camera angle than that?

"That one is a strange one for me, I thought it looked like it came off an Everton player. With so many cameras in the ground, I thought there would be a better angle than the one they just used for VAR."

Moments later and Martinelli was forced to be taken off after picking up an injury. He was replaced by Leandro Trossard as Arsenal tried to make their dominance count, having had the majority of possession without troubling Pickford on many occasions.