Leeds fan arrested in connection with alleged racial abuse aimed at Arsenal bench

A Leeds United fan has been arrested in connection with alleged racial abuse aimed at Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe and Nuno Tavares in their 4-1 defeat to the Gunners on Saturday evening.

The fourth official and referee Andre Marriner were called over to the touchline by Rob Holding and others on the Arsenal bench midway through the first half at Elland Road, and the visitors officially reported that they were targeted with racial abuse.

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The Premier League and Leeds have both confirmed that their own investigations are underway.

Speaking to the media post-game Mikel Arteta said: “Unfortunately I can confirm that it was reported to the stadium manager and the authorities will deal with that.

“It was the players who were sitting on the bench, one of them heard those comments.

“It was one person and I don’t think that merits punishing the whole stadium because of one individual.”

Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa added: “Of course I am against all acts of discrimination.”

Arsenal were 2-0 up at the time of the incident thanks to a brace from Gabriel Martinelli, while Marriner warned the Gunners not to celebrate too close to the stands when Bukayo Saka added a third shortly before half time.

Ben White brought Joe Gelhardt down in the penalty area in the second half and Raphinha converted from the spot to pull one back for Leeds, before substitute Emile Smith Rowe sealed the three points late on.

The fixture at Elland Road was the only Premier League fixture to take place on Saturday, with each of the other five games called off due to Covid-19 outbreaks.

Burnley’s trip to Aston Villa was called off with under three hours to go until kick off after the hosts reported a fresh set of positive Covid-19 tests in their squad.

Arsenal confirmed before kick off that they were without Albert Sambi Lokonga due to a positive test, while it was revealed post-game that Pablo Mari missed out for the same reason.

Diego Llorente was absent from the hosts’ matchday squad after also returning a positive test, while Marcelo Bielsa was without a large number of other senior players due to injury.

Source of the article

Author: XenBet