Rio Ferdinand Got Incredibly Heated When Discussing Gabriel Martinelli's Sending Off vs Wolves

Rio Ferdinand was not happy with referee Michael Oliver after he sent off Gabriel Martinelli in Arsenal's 1-0 win over Wolves.

Martinelli was given two yellow cards within six seconds on Thursday evening, one for pushing Daniel Podence as he took a quick throw and one for tackling Ruben Semedo to stop a counter attack.

The action hadn't stopped between both the incidents and Martinelli received his bookings one after the other.

Ferdinand analysed the game on BT Sport and immediately said: "He wants to be in the news the ref, doesn’t he?

"So harsh. I get the first one, yeah that can be a booking because he's trying to slow play down, The second one, in the same sequence of play, it doesn't warrant a yellow card. No chance."

Michael Owen and Robbie Savage were also in the studio and agreed with Ferdinand's point about the two bookings being harsh.

Former referee Peter Walton was involved in the debate and told all three men that the decision to send the 20-year-old off was right by the letter of the law.

That was met with pushback however and the quartet were involved in a near 10 minute discussion about the decision at Molineux.

Gabriel scored the only goal of the game in the 25th minute as Arsenal continue their push for a place in the top four.

Manchester United's draw with Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur's loss to Southampton earlier in the week meant earning all three points was vital.

Martinelli's dismissal means it's the Gunners' 15th in all competitions since Mikel Arteta took over in December 2019.

Arteta isn't sure on how to calm his players down and buck a frustrating trend.

"I've run out of ideas I think (to stop the red cards)," Arteta admitted post-match. "The character, how we dug in, the spirit we showed, I'm really proud of the boys. There was togetherness and unity.

"We put ourselves in trouble with the red card and we had to dig in. Wolves threw seven players up front and it was difficult to maintain a clean sheet but we defended the box extremely well.

"The character, how we dug in, the spirit we showed, I'm really proud of the boys. There was togetherness and unity.

"We need to play with 11 players in the last 16 games and that is key. To win games with 10 men is very unlikely."

Arsenal are now fifth in the Premier League and one point behind West Ham United.