Some PSV fans seemed to take losing to Arsenal in the Europa League quite badly with reports of seats being ripped out and images of a flare that was reportedly aimed at Arsenal supporters.
Arsenal’s win over PSV Eindhoven was conducted in a perfectly needle-free manner so it is somewhat surprising to see a section of their fanbase lose it at the Emirates.
PSV fans throw flare at Arsenal supporters and rip up seats in the away section. pic.twitter.com/bdmJVg10fy
— Tom Canton (@TomCantonMedia) October 20, 2022
PSV fans have now launched a firework at the Arsenal fans. Fortunately it missed. pic.twitter.com/4wPbkYXv19
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) October 20, 2022
PSV fans throw ripped up seats at Arsenal supporters pic.twitter.com/pbhr9i2ALO
— Layth (@laythy29) October 20, 2022
Quite what set them off is not clear at the time of writing, not that any excuse justifies this sort of behaviour.
Expect UEFA to act with both clubs possibly in a spot of bother.
It was, after all, Arsenal’s responsibility to keep flares and fireworks out of the ground.
Arsenal stretched their winning run to eight when they beat Ruud van Nistelrooy’s PSV Eindhoven on Thursday night in their rearranged Europa League game.
In a match where Mikel Arteta made six changes to the starting lineup and Arsenal never really hit top gear, they never seemed to be under any sort of threat from PSV.
Arsenal-linked Cody Gakpo, one of the few players in Europe even close to keeping pace with Erling Haaland, didn’t even get a shot in. He has three goals from his other three Europa League games, and an assist.
In a game that never felt like it was out of Arsenal’s control, Granit Xhaka was the man to break the deadlock in the 71st minute.
His smooth strike from just inside the box is his third goal of the season as his fantastic form continues continues. Xhaka has now scored as many as he had in the previous three seasons combined. He is just one short of the four he scored in the 18/19 season.
Xhaka’s yellow card, his second in the competition, was a flash back to the Granit of old, but it was also funny.
Next up for Arsenal is a trip to Southampton in the Premier League.