Keith Andrews complains about Arsenal star after Brentford draw

Keith Andrews believes Gabriel Magalhaes should have been sent off in Brentford’s pulsating Premier League draw with Arsenal.

Brentford boosted their unlikely European chances with a well-deserved 1-1 draw with leaders Arsenal on Thursday night.

The Bees were marginally the better side in the first half but Arsenal began to take control after the break and went ahead through Noni Madueke’s header.

Brentford responded superbly to the setback, however, and equalised shortly after through Keane Lewis-Potter’s header.

Both teams had chances to win the game late on and Gabriel was perhaps lucky to see out the 90 minutes after avoiding a second yellow card for a tackle.

Brentford boss Andrews was seen in heated discussion with referee John Brooks after the full-time whistle and said in his post-match interview that Gabriel should have seen red.

Asked about his conversation with Brooks and Gabriel’s foul while on a yellow card, Andrews told TNT Sports: ‘I think it was a definite yellow, it was a definite yellow.

‘I just feel like the first few fouls always set the bar, there’s always that level. I felt in the first half we wasn’t getting the rub of it.

‘Inside the box I was really happy with our movement and body language. A lot has been made of Arsenal’s set-pieces but we’re not so bad ourselves.’

Asked about the incident in his post-match interview, Andrews added: ‘I thought it was a second yellow card. It was the 82nd minute wasn’t it so it would have made a little bit of a difference for sure.

‘But it is what is it.’

Responding to Andrews’ verdict on Gabriel, Arsenal legend Martin Keown said: ‘Do you know what? I’m not even going to argue with that.’

The draws means Arsenal fail to restore their six-point advantage over second-placed Manchester City, who beat Fulham 3-0 on Wednesday.

Arsenal are bidding to win the Premier League for the first time since 2004 following three successive second-place finishes but Declan Rice has urged his teammate to ‘block out the outside noise’ in the business end of the season.

‘The game was split into different halves,’ the England midfielder said. ‘It was their first 20 minutes, we ended the first half strong, we started the second half amazingly well and they ended the half better than us.

‘In this journey you are never going to be at the level for 70 games of the season but you have to be at the best you can.

‘The small details, the basics, like I say this is a rollercoaster of a season. You can’t be naïve to think this is going to be easy.

‘We are playing against the best teams week in, week out. We have to keep pushing and believing in ourselves, controlling the controllable.

‘We have to block out the outside noise. We have done that really well. People are going to talk up the title race and Arsenal but we have a really calm group.

‘I’m not naive to think Brentford are a pushover. They are one of the best teams in the league and their recent form shows that. It’s a point gained in our journey but we wanted to win the game.’

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta added: ‘We wanted to win so we feel like we dropped two points, but they are very difficult. We keep going.’

While Arsenal now sit four points clear at the top of the Premier League, Brentford stay seventh but close to within just five points of the top-four places.

The Gunners face League One side Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup this weekend while Brentford take on non-league club Macclesfield.

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