Arsenal fans think they've proven why Gabriel's 'handball' wasn't a penalty

Arsenal fans think they've worked out why Gabriel's 'handball' wasn't given as a penalty, in Arsenal's controversial win over Liverpool.

Mikel Arteta's side enjoyed just their second win against Liverpool in the league since 2015, to continue their excellent start to the current campaign.

The Gunners were 1-0 up inside a minute at the Emirates, thanks to a beautiful move that was finished off by Gabriel Martinelli, before Darwin Nunez got his second goal since moving to England in the summer to make it 1-1.

However, the Reds believed they should have had a penalty in the 15th minute, when the ball struck Gabriel's hand in the box, as Diogo Jota attempted a cross.

The referee didn't point to the spot and VAR decided that there was no obvious decision to over turn, much to the dismay of the away supporters and plenty on social media.

Arsenal fans argued that the two players were too close together, for their to be a handball, whilst Liverpool fans claimed the Brazilian defender's hand was in an unnatural position.

Now, however, fans of the north London club believe they've found another reason that there wasn't actually controversy, and the right decision was made.

Slowed down footage of the incident shows that the ball struck the centre back's chest before flicking off his outstretched hand, with supporters thinking this is enough to mean it wasn't handball.

The ball hit Gabriel’s chest before his hand. pic.twitter.com/xPqjLiFCT0

— Eduardo Hagn (@EduardoHagn) October 10, 2022

There was outrage amongst Manchester United followers recently when they conceded a penalty against Real Sociedad, in the Europa League, in similar circumstances.

On that occasion the ball hit Lisandro Martinez's leg before flicking onto his arm, and the scored penalty was the difference between the two sides.

The problem is that the ball hitting another part of the body is not actually written into the handball law in football, if the arm is believed to be in an unnatural position.

"It is an offence if a player touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger," the law reads.

"A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation.

"By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised."

The proximity between Jota and Gabriel is more likely to be what saved him, or the ref and VAR official believing that his hand wasn't in an unnatural position.

Having got back to 1-1, despite the potential penalty decision going against them, Liverpool went into half time 2-1 down, thanks to Bukayo Saka's goal.

Roberto Firmino then got the visitors level for a second time but they were once again left annoyed at a refereeing decision with just 15 minutes left of the game.

Thiago was adjudged to have fouled Gabriel Jesus in the box but Klopp's side were not at all happy, with Saka converting the spot kick to earn all three points.