An Arsenal fan has been arrested after he ran onto the Emirates Stadium pitch during the Gunners' Premier League win and appeared to push Manchester United's Chris Smalling.
Following on from a Birmingham fan running on to the field and striking Aston Villa's Jack Grealish earlier on Sunday, the sole pitch invader ran on after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty had put Arsenal 2-0 ahead.
As he ran to celebrate with the players he appeared to make contact with Smalling.
The nasty scenes are is likely to spark a widespread discussion about safety at grounds everywhere, especially as they came on the back of similar recent incidents in Scotland.
Grealish went on to hail it the 'best day of his life', recovering from being punched by the Birmingham fan to score the winner in the Second City derby.
Smalling has yet to comment but Arsenal moved swiftly to announce after the game that the individual had since been arrested for appearing to push the England defender and is likely to face a lifetime ban from their home matches as they have a "zero tolerance" approach to such actions.
"We utterly condemn the behavior of the individual who ran onto the pitch and approached Chris Smalling," Arsenal said in a statement.
"We would like to apologize 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."
Arsenal are likely to invoke a lifetime ban on the culprit, something Birmingham have also pledged to do after the sickening lunchtime scenes.
"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 today. He is currently in custody at a north London police station," The Metropolitan Police said.
The Premier League has been contacted for comment about the Smalling incident.
"It's obviously a concern with the one earlier today," United's Ashley Young told beIN Sports.
The Professional Footballers' Association called for a "full inquiry into the incident to ascertain why in a fixture with such a charged history, a fan was able to run on to the pitch virtually unchallenged and assault a player".
The PFA said in a statement it was concerned about "this type of behaviour coming back into the game".
"Incidents like this demonstrate certain problems have not been eradicated and that players can be particularly vulnerable," the PFA said.
On Friday, Rangers captain James Tavernier found himself face to face with a fan who had jumped out of the Hiberian support before being led away.
Australian Associated Press
