THE METROPOLITAN POLICE and Arsenal are investigating an incident in which Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli was hit on the head by a bottle during the two sides’ Carabao Cup quarter-final clash.
Alli scored the second goal for his side in a 2-0 win that set up a semi-final meeting with Chelsea next month, but Spurs’ victory was marred by the incident.
No arrests have been made but Arsenal and the Metropolitan Police are working together on the issue, the force said in a statement.
“The Met is working with Arsenal Football Club to identify the person responsible for an incident where a bottle was thrown onto the pitch during the Arsenal v Tottenham match on Wednesday 19 December,” the statement said.
“There has been no arrest in relation to this specific incident. Seven people were arrested as part of the policing operation for this match for a variety of offences including possession of drugs; public order and assault on police.”
England international Alli was clearly unhappy about the incident but was pushed away from the situation by Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
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— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) December 19, 2018
Dele Alli was struck by a bottle thrown from the crowd during Tottenham Hotspur's 2-0 win over North London rivals Arsenal.
Report as Spurs avenge north London derby defeat in style: https://t.co/GhPzVuaiZE pic.twitter.com/xCoCTF0vbI
He made light of the moment on social media following the game, posting a photograph where he is gesturing to Arsenal fans with the game’s scoreline.
But Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino was unimpressed with the incident and condemned the bottle being thrown, which opposite number Unai Emery said he did not see.
“Lucky that it wasn’t a big issue. Come on, when we play a derby we hate each other in a good way, but that looks in a bad way, looking to damage an opponent,” said Pochettino. “I cannot talk in general [terms] because only one stupid person made a mistake.”
The incident comes after projectiles, including a banana skin, were thrown when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a penalty in Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Spurs in the Premier League on 2 December.
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Great game City keeper had a blinder!!! 1300 for an U19 game on a Wednesday night and there were 400 at Richmond Park for Pats v City on Monday…laughable
Be interesting to see what the attendance would have been if the Liverpool Man U game was on tonight instead of Monday.
True but even tonight City v Barcelona on tonight too
Very few irish ppl support Man City compared to Utd and Lpool. Just goes to show that irish ppl are event junkies. We love special occasions like these or going over to england to see a game, but when it comes to the average humdrum LOI fixture ppl are less enthusiastic.
City Barcelona is no comparison to Liverpool United for the Irish football fan
Are you saying there are more Irish fans supporting Man City and Barca than Man Utd and Liverpool??
U19 and U17 leagues were a fantastic idea well done cork
Great support. Well done Cork.
Is there a group stage or is it just a continous 2 leg knockout?? Btw fair play to cork
They play Roma in a 2 leg play-off and the winner goes to the group stage
Ah sound. Hope they get through
The winners of the next leg play the runners up of the Champions league groups, then the winners of that game play the winners of the champions league groups.
Well done Cork.
No Kenny Browne in sight Darren you’d have been delighted
Yes….. You have a lot of decent footballers there. No room for chubby checkers anywhere! Posh boy….you weren’t the lad on about goal difference between Dundalk and Cork defences were you yesterday? Less said about the MASSIVE +3 goals between teams the better.
@Darren Sheils: No it wasn’t me anyway haha
Great stuff from City.I’ll have to book the holiday to Rome.
That’s a tight net. Well done CCFC
Great support and an unbelievable result! Fair play Cork, they’ll continue to be a top side with this young talent coming through!