Brighton denied penalty as Martinelli holds Wieffer

What happened

In first-half stoppage time, Gabriel Martinelli held Mats Wieffer's arm and blocked his run to the back post without looking at the ball. Chris Kavanagh played on and VAR Michael Salisbury agreed. The KMI panel voted 4-1 that it was a penalty and 3-2 that VAR should have intervened. Arsenal won 1-0.

On the pitch

No penalty: play on

VAR

VAR did not intervene

Benefited

ARS Arsenal

Harmed

BHA Brighton & Hove Albion

Reaction

• “Martinelli is not looking at the ball, holds Wieffer into the area and prevents the Brighton player from challenging for the ball.”

  KMI panel · Key Match Incidents panel

Sources

• officialEvery VAR and referee error in the 2025-26 Premier League (BBC Sport, via ModernGhana)BBC Sport
• officialBrighton wrongly denied penalty in narrow defeat to Gunners as VAR error confirmedGoal
• reportOfficial: Kavanagh and VAR cost Brighton penalty against ArsenalWe Are Brighton
• analysis2025–26 Premier League table without every official VAR errorSports Illustrated