Referee Andy Madley and VAR assistant Peter Bankes may have made a big mistake in the Arsenal defeat as they didn't hand Gabriel Martinelli a red card.

What's the latest on VAR and Arsenal?

The Gunners' Premier League dream all but came to an end on the weekend as Manchester City won away at Everton shortly before Brighton came to visit the Emirates.

With a title win already looking less than likely, Mikel Arteta and co proceeded to ship three goals in the second half of the game against the Seagulls – with Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav, and Pervis Estupinan getting on the score sheet.

That result means Arsenal are now four points behind Man City, with just two games left to play while the league leaders have three more matches to go.

As if defeat wasn't bad enough, Arteta can probably count himself lucky that one of his players didn't see red in the opening stages of the game.

Indeed, as this footage shows, Martinelli jumped late to try and win a header but gets nowhere near the ball as he instead charges with his shoulder and slams into Kaoru Mitoma.

Did Martinelli deserve a red card?

It's a very bad challenge and it certainly endangers the opponent who was lucky not to suffer a serious injury after taking such a blow to the head.

Perhaps what is most remarkable, however, is the fact that referee Madley not only wasn't asked to review the incident by VAR but he also failed to even hand out a yellow card.

Arsenal football writer Charles Watts even admitted on Twitter: "Martinelli has just absolutely clattered Mitoma going for a high ball. Shoulder to the face. Not the best of challenges. Mitoma back up and OK, but Martinelli lucky to get nothing at all there. Poor challenge."

While journalist Sam Pilger was more damning as he claimed: "I am speechless. That was a red card challenge from Arsenal's Martinelli. He led with his arm and floored an opponent. And he wasn't even booked! More inexplicable and spineless decisions from referees and VAR."

And this wasn't the only bit of questionable refereeing on the day. For instance, when Brighton opened the scoring through Enciso, it appeared that Jakub Kiwior was possibly fouled shortly before a cross came in, preventing him from dealing with the ball.

The defender wasn't happy after the game, saying (via Daily Mail): I felt contact and lost my boot and didn't even see the goal,' the centre-back told Viaplay after the game. 'I hoped VAR would intervene and chalk off the goal, but unfortunately, the ref saw it differently."