Moises Caicedo vs Gabriel Martinelli: Brighton star distraught over tackle

Jacque Talbot

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:37 CDT
• 3 min read

Brighton star Moises Caicedo has admitted he regrets fouling Gabriel Martinelli.

The Seagulls beat Arsenal 3-0 on Sunday - and during the contest the midfielder’s tackle saw the Brazil ace go off injured.

It was a poor tackle in the first half but Caicedo has since come out to apologise for the incident.

He took to Twitter and said:“If I could turn back time I wouldn't have made that bad tackle. (Shrug emoji).”

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Martinelli, after the full-time whistle, was seen wearing a protective boot.

Arsenal club doctor Gary O’Driscoll has spoken out about the tackle, saying that it was ‘disgraceful’, but he then admitted that the attacker would be back before the end of the season : “Sore. Terrible foul, disgraceful foul. But yeah, he’s a bit sore but he should be okay.” He said: “Yeah, I think he should be back before the end of the season."

Arsenal were unhappy with Caicedo for the challenge on Martinelli, while their fans were in an uproar on social media.

Roy Keane on tackle

But Roy Keane, on pundit duty, relayed his own thoughts on the tackle. “Tough, he was lucky," Keane said of the foul. "Maybe he got the benefit of the doubt because of his personality and the positioning of the player,

“But what a good teammate does is get retaliation back. It’s not a good tackle, certainly looks a sore one and obviously, he had to go off. Hopefully, that’s not the end of his season because he’s been outstanding.

“Sometimes that’s the game. We played, you have to even things up, unfortunately for him.”

The Gunners must beat Nottingham Forest to stand even a semblance of a chance of winning the Premier League. The Midlands side are battling relegation, though - and so it should be a dogged contest.

Forest took a point at Chelsea to remain three clear of 18th-placed Leeds, who are slumped in the bottom three.

The Gunners' 81-point tally this campaign is their highest total in 15 years.