Mikel Arteta felt that he needed to restrain Granit Xhaka as tempers flared at the end of the North London derby.
The Arsenal boss was desperate to pull all of his players away from an unfolding melee, which featured a Spurs fan kicking Gunners goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in the back.
Arteta had pulled Ramsdale and several other Gunners players towards the corner the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when Xhaka headed back the other way toward the chaotic scenes.
The Spaniard, perhaps aware that his combustible midfielder could end up getting a suspension, turned and chased after Xhaka before grabbing him and pulling him away.
A clearly angered Xhaka seemed to sigh and then follow his manager.
Speaking about the kicking incident after the match, Arteta said: “I haven’t seen anything and I don’t want to, I just want to talk about football and the beautiful game we just played. Tomorrow we can review that.”
Ramsdale was a little more forthcoming about the incident, saying: “Spurs fans were giving me some crack second half, and I gave them some back,” he said.
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Sky Sports)
“The few people I did give it to it was probably well greeted, in a sportsmanship way. But then a fan jumped over and gave me a little punch in the back. That’s what happened, and it’s a shame because it is just a game of football at the end of the day.
“Everyone, both sets of players, tried to bring me away. Thankfully nothing actually happened too drastically, but it’s a sour taste.”
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp aldo condemned what happened and called for a ban for the fan responsible.
“It’s completely unacceptable from the Spurs fan,” he said.
“He’s been getting stick all game as he said, he reacts, you can see Richarlison gets involved as well. This is part of football, that, a little bit of stick, but for a fan to come and do that as we see it unfold, come on and try and kick a player on the pitch is completely unacceptable.
“He’s got to get his water bottle, he’s got to get his gloves, and I’m sure that Spurs will act accordingly. He shouldn’t be allowed in the football stadium, that guy, and it’s completely out of order and unacceptable.”
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Sky Sports)
The PFA released a statement shortly after the incident, and said: “Violence towards players is completely unacceptable. These types of incidents are happening far too often.
“Players have a right to be safe in their place of work. When a player is attacked we expect the laws and regulations that are in place to protect them and to be properly enforced.
“As the players’ union we treat this as a priority issue. We will be continuing to work with the authorities to demand that players and staff are better protected in their place of work.”
