Garth Crooks believes Emerson Royal was simply unable to deal with Gabriel Martinelli in Saturday’s North London Derby, which resulted in the Brazilian receiving a red card for a tackle on the Arsenal winger.
According to the BBC Sport pundit, Royal struggled all game against his Brazilian counterpart Martinelli who troubled him for most of the game, with the Tottenham defender eventually being sent off for a nasty challenge on the 21-year-old.
Martinelli was one of Arsenal’s best players against Tottenham, assisting Granit Xhaka’s second-half goal that sealed the three points for the Gunners.
Arsenal made quite a statement by taking their north London rivals to the cleaners in such convincing fashion. And for Crooks, Emerson’s dismissal was a game-changing moment, with the pundit claiming that the defender simply couldn’t deal with Martinelli.
Crooks had this to say about Martinelli’s performance and Emerson’s red card (via BBC Sport):
“What was equally disturbing was Conte’s lack of ability to see that Emerson Royal was totally incapable of dealing with the threat of Gabriel Martinelli and his sending-off ultimately cost Spurs the match.”
The emphatic derby win meant that Arsenal retained their lead at the top of the Premier League table, while Antonio Conte’s side suffered their first domestic defeat of the season.