Arsenal fan who pushed Smalling arrested for common assault

A man has been arrested on suspicion of common assault after running onto the pitch and pushing Chris Smalling at the Emirates on Sunday.

The supporter managed to get onto the turf in the 69th minute of Arsenal's 2-0 win against Manchester United shortly before Pierre Emerick-Aubameyand scored a penalty.

He seemed to briefly confront Smalling after making physical contact and then went on to celebrate with the Arsenal players.

The Metropolitan Police tweeted: 'A man has been arrested on suspicion of common assault and pitch invasion following an incident during the Arsenal v Man Utd game at the Emirates Stadium. He is currently in custody at a north London police station.'

After the shocking incident, an Arsenal spokesman said: 'We utterly condemn the behaviour of the individual who ran onto the pitch and approached Chris Smalling during the match.

'We would like to apologise to Chris and Manchester United, and are pleased that the individual was apprehended and arrested.

'We will be working closely with the Metropolitan Police in their investigation. The individual will also be banned from Arsenal matches home and away. Our matchday staff receive ongoing training on managing incidents such as this.'

The incident at the Emirates followed an attack on Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish by a Birmingham City supporter on Sunday.

Grealish was punched and the man arrested before the Villa man went on to net the winning goal in the derby game.

On Friday night a Hibs fan confronted Rangers player James Tavernier on the pitch and these incident are becoming disturbingly frequent.

After the flashpoint in United's defeat by Arsenal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: 'I didn't get to see exactly what happened but, of course, this shouldn't be a place that someone runs onto the pitch. It's not nice to see.

'We just have to make sure we play football and they watch us play football. It's one of those things that we don't want to see.'