Nick Woltemade hits back at Gabriel as Arsenal star told he 'got lucky' over elbow

Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade has admitted that maybe he should have made a meal of the contact from Gabriel Magalhaes after the Arsenal defender escaped punishment. Gabriel scored a dramatic late winner for the Gunners in a feisty encounter at St James’ Park on Sunday, having avoided a red card earlier on in the match.

Woltemade’s header put Newcastle 1-0 up, but Mikel Arteta’s side rallied and turned things around late on. Mikel Merino headed in Declan Rice’s cross to equalise before Gabriel converted from Martin Odegaard’s corner to complete the comeback 2-1.

Newcastle felt aggrieved that Gabriel was still on the pitch after the Brazilian put his elbow into Woltemade’s face earlier in the game. The Newcastle striker reacted and alerted the referee, but VAR decided the clash didn’t meet the threshold for a red card.

“After the goal, there was a situation where I felt his elbow in my face at two metres, so his arm had to be really high,” Woltemade told Sky Sports.

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“I just said it to the referee that I felt something in the face, and I think it's not right to feel something in the face, but I'm not the type of player to fall down for this. It's hard because sometimes maybe you have to do this, but this is not my type of football.”

He added: “He said sorry after, so I think he knew he hit me in my face. I didn't solve the situation to be honest. I don't like this.

“If you do some things in-game and then a few seconds later you say sorry, that's not part of the game. I like the situation where you can have a good battle, but it always has to be fair. His elbow should not be in my face.”

Gabriel’s Instagram story was full of jubilant posts around his winning goal, which sent Arsenal second, two points shy of leaders Liverpool after they were beaten 2-1 by Crystal Palace.

The incident with Woltemade was just one of many flashpoints in the game and former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher felt he got away with one.

“I think he’s lucky he didn’t actually strike him properly,” he said on Sky Sports. “He’s got lucky that the referee didn’t see it so it’s gone to VAR and the VAR has to say red card or nothing and has decided it’s not a red card. I don’t think it’s a red card. If the referee sees it then he’s certainly going to get a yellow card.”

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