Arsenal have condemned the behaviour of one of their supporters after an arrest was made following the win over Chelsea on Tuesday night.
A 21-year-old Arsenal fan has been arrested for shining a laser into the eyes of Chelsea winger Mykhaylo Mudryk during the home side’s 3-1 win. Mudryk was booed by the Gunners supporters during the match before a green laser was visible on his face in the second half of the match.
An Arsenal statement said: “An arrest has been made following the use of a laser during last night’s match. This behaviour is dangerous and totally unacceptable, and we will fully support the police with their enquiries. We will obviously take the strongest possible action.”
A Metropolitan Police statement said: "A 21-year-old man was arrested at the Emirates Stadium during the Arsenal v Chelsea match on 2 May on suspicion of a public order offence. He has been taken into custody.
"As the result of an anti-ticket touting operation before the Arsenal v Chelsea match, three men were arrested on suspicion of ticket touting and one man arrested on suspicion of breaching his football banning order. They were taken into custody."
Mudryk posted a picture of the laser shining on his face on his Instagram account alongside the caption “it’s ok”. He was playing at the Emirates Stadium for the first time after joining Chelsea in a £88.5million transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk in January.
The Ukraine international had been Arsenal’s number one transfer target, but ended up moving to west London after Chelsea owner Todd Boehly gazumped the Gunners. He had a relatively quiet 19 minutes against Arsenal after coming on for Enzo Fernandez in the second half.
Chelsea made it six straight defeats under the management of Frank Lampard, with Arsenal blowing them away inside the opening 34 minutes. Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard scored the opening two goals before Gabriel Jesus made the game safe.
Noni Madueke pulled a goal back in the second half, but the score could have been worse had it not been for goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. The win sent Arsenal back to the top of the Premier League as they ended a run of four games without a win, while Chelsea are now languishing in 12th.
“As a team, we put in a good effort today after the four games we didn’t win, and I think we needed the three points. It was very important,” Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka said.
“We needed a reaction for the fans, for ourselves as well to come back with confidence and hopefully we can continue like this for the next four games.”
Coming into the game Arsenal had drawn against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton before being thrashed 4-1 by Manchester City. They are now two points ahead of City, but Pep Guardiola’s side have two games in hand and remain heavy favourites for the title.
“We have to do our job to take as many points as possible,” Xhaka added. “After that, we have to hope a little bit because we don’t have everything in our hands.
“In the Premier League everything is possible. People are speaking about us in a good and bad way, but this is part of our job. We have to focus on ourselves, do our job and let’s see after.”
