Tottenham fan arrested after banana skin is thrown at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in north London derby
A Tottenham Hotspur fan was on Sunday night arrested after a banana skin was thrown at Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as he celebrated his first goal in a feisty north London derby.
Images from the Emirates showed a banana peel lying on the pitch in front of Aubameyang after the Arsenal forward moved towards the away supporters in celebration of his 10th-minute penalty.
The FA are set to investigate the incident, even if it is not included in referee Mike Dean’s report. Metropolitan Police on Sunday night said a man was arrested for throwing a missile onto the pitch, and it is understood the missile in question was the banana skin.
In a statement, a Spurs spokesman said: “Behaviour such as this is completely unacceptable and the supporter in question will be issued with a ban.”
There were also six other arrests, including at least two Arsenal supporters who had lit smoke canisters in the second half, when the home side came back from 2-1 down to win 4-2.
The thrilling game was also marred by a scuffle between both sets of players following Eric Dier’s equaliser for Spurs in the first half. Dier put his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture in front of the home fans before Arsenal substitutes clashed with the Spurs players. Mauricio Pochettino, the Spurs manager, and his assistant Jesus Perez both ran down the touchline as tempers flared.
Pochettino said afterwards that he was trying to “calm” the situation. “In that moment, it was to try to put calm in our play,” the Spurs manager said. “At 1-1, it was a massive fight there but I did not know what was going on in that moment. And in the moment that I arrived, it was all relaxed, calm.
“I did not know what happened but sometimes these situations happen. My intention was always to put calm. I don’t know if it was the celebration of Dier. I don’t know what upset some people there or some players that were doing the warm-up. I really don’t know and I didn’t ask at half-time.
“I promise, in the half-time I didn’t ask and now there is no time to ask. I think the cameras are there and we will see what is going on. In that moment I think the team score and the energy is on our side and to keep that energy is to try to be clever. OK, celebrate and then try and go back to play.”
Dier, who was booked for his celebration, said he could not understand why he was shown a yellow card for the incident. “I had my back to it all so I am not too sure what happened,” the England midfielder said. “But this is football, it’s a derby. Football is all about emotion and I don’t understand how I can get a yellow card in that situation.
“It baffles me because if you take the emotion out of football you are going to destroy the game for everyone. The ref said he gave me the yellow card because it was because of me that the whole thing started.
“If you watch it, we are celebrating, I don’t leave the pitch at any point and some of their players that are on the bench come to us. Their players approached us. I don’t know what is wrong with it. But it does not matter. It was not because of that we lost.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal head coach Unai Emery described his first north London derby as a “special” victory. Arsenal are now unbeaten in 19 games this season, and this was their first win over one of the Premier League’s so-called ‘big six’. Arsenal have now moved into fourth place, ahead of Spurs on goal difference.
“For sure it is a very big victory for our supporters and we gave them this victory because it is a very special match,” said Emery, who takes his players to Old Trafford to play struggling Manchester United on Wednesday night. “For us it is the same - it is special - but above all it is three points, like it was against Bournemouth and on Wednesday against Manchester United.
“Right now we are happy and we are enjoying it for a short time. We are at the moment the same as Tottenham in the table and they lost today. We need also to continue creating our way and process. Today it was a very good match for our confidence, but we don’t forget they beat Chelsea last week in a very big match.”
