‘I love that’: Michail Antonio says something happened in Arsenal’s latest loss that he’d never seen before

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Michail Antonio has admitted that he loved seeing Moises Caicedo and Kaoru Mitoma high-five after the Brighton midfielder brought down Gabriel Martinelli in their win over Arsenal at the weekend.

The West Ham striker was speaking on The Footballer’s Football Podcast following a dramatic weekend which appears to have all but brought the curtain down on the Premier League title race.

Arsenal were dismantled in the second-half by Brighton at the Emirates. But there was some drama before the break, with Gabriel Martinelli having to go off early due to injury.

Antonio lauds Caicedo after Martinelli incident

Martinelli was brought down by Moises Caicedo after a nasty challenge in the middle of the pitch. There certainly seemed to be a hint of retribution in the tackle, with Caicedo and Kaoru Mitoma high-fiving just after.

Martinelli had been very, very lucky to escape punishment earlier on after smashing into Mitoma. And it seems that that inspired Caicedo to get one back on the Brazilian.

Arsenal fans were understandably unhappy that Caicedo escaped punishment. And their frustration may have boiled over after the high-five as that would certainly suggest that there was more to it than just a poor tackle.

But Michail Antonio has insisted that he was a big fan of Caicedo’s actions.

“I love that. The fact they high fived as well, I actually love that. I have seen people clean someone out for someone else, but the high five has never happened so I buzz off that,” he told The Footballer’s Football Podcast.

It is probably the kind of thing that Brighton fans would have liked to see. Of course, no-one wants Martinelli to have sustained any sort of serious injury.

However, there is an argument that Martinelli should not have been on the pitch to be on the receiving end of that challenge from Caicedo.

And it was good to see teammates sticking up for each other. Ultimately, Brighton would have the last laugh on the afternoon, winning 3-0 and dealing a near-fatal blow to Arsenal’s title hopes.