December 20 – Despite a pre-match appeal to both sets of supporters following a number of high-profile cases of discrimination in recent weeks, police are investigating an incident that saw Tottenham Hotspur’s England midfielder Dele Alli struck on the head by a plastic bottle during their 2-0 League Cup quarterfinal win against arch-rivals Arsenal on Wednesday.
The bottle was thrown from a section of the home crowd at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and is being examined on CCTV to try and identify the fan responsible.
“In a different country, maybe they close the stadium for a few games,” said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino afterwards
“It’s lucky it wasn’t a big problem but I think people need to be careful, and we need to try and avoid this type of action. Some people behave very bad.”
The incident came a fortnight after a banana skin was thrown towards Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the Premier League match between the same sides at the same venue earlier this month. The Spurs fan responsible was fined and banned.
Wednesday’s incident, after Alli had scored Tottenham’s second goal, took place against the backdrop of heightened concern over recent cases of discriminatory and anti-social behaviour among English fans, the worst of which occurred in Hungary last week. UEFA have confirmed they are investigating “alleged racist incidents” by Chelsea supporters during the club’s Europa League game at MOL Vidi. That came three days after four Chelsea fans were suspended for allegedly racially abusing Manchester City’s black England international Raheem Sterling.
In a statement Arsenal said that “Anyone identified will receive a lengthy club ban and their details will be passed to the police to commence legal proceedings.”
“We have all been embarrassed by the individual who threw a bottle at Dele Alli. Behaviour of this type has no place at Emirates Stadium and after analysing CCTV footage, which showed him leaving the stadium after throwing the bottle, we have identified an image of the suspect.
“We are liaising with the Metropolitan Police and investigations continue in order to apprehend the culprit.”
Contact the writer of this story at andrew.warshaw@insideworldfootball.com