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Gabriel Martinelli is set to avoid retrospective action from the Football Association after pushing the referee during Arsenal's shock FA Cup defeat to Southampton.

The Arsenal forward was cautioned in the closing stages of the 2-1 loss at St Mary’s after pushing Sam Barrott on the arm. The incident occurred in the 94th minute when Martinelli made contact with the referee while trying to quickly take a free kick.

But with Barrott taking action on-field, the Athletic report he is not set to be punished further by the FA.

Ex-Premier League referee Mark Halsey slammed the Brazilian’s antics and insisted he should have been shown a straight red card. He said: "Referee Sam Barrott awarded a free-kick to Arsenal, Martinelli comes rushing in and he pushes Sam out of the way.

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"Now I'm sorry, Gabriel Martinelli showed total disrespect for the match official Sam Barrott in that situation.

"Although Sam issued a yellow card, for me it's a red card. You just cannot put your hands on a referee, let alone push him out of the way. You've got to look around the country, up and down, Saturday and Sundays where we have local park referees going out and doing their games. What message does that send out to our local park referees?

"I thought Sam had a good game, he refereed the game well, but I think he let the refereeing community down by not sending off Gabriel Martinelli for pushing him at the award of a free-kick, so he could take the free-kick quickly."

Ref Support UK, a charity which trains and supports officials, wrote on X: "The FA cannot let him get away with that. This will be a missed opportunity if they don’t take action against Arsenal and Martinelli.

"There has been too many incidents in football where refs are pushed or shoved and football cannot let it escalate any more. I would have loved to see the ref send him off."

This will mark the second time this season that Martinelli has avoided retrospective action after there were calls for him to be banned following an incident with Conor Bradley.

On that occasion, Martinelli pushed the Liverpool defender off the pitch as he was down with what proved to be a season ending injury.

This latest Martinelli misdemeanour put the cherry on top of a miserable night for the Gunners who saw their dreams of the treble go up in smoke,

Having lost in the Carabao Cup final before the international break, the trip to the Championship side appeared the perfect remedy. Instead, they were deservedly on the losing end of things with Shea Charles scoring a late winner.

The Saints will now face Manchester City at Wembley, with Arsenal left to focus on the Champions League and Premier League.

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