The Football Association are looking into an incident involving Unai Emery after the Arsenal manager kicked a water bottle that appeared to strike a Brighton supporter.
Late on in the game at the Amex, which Arsenal eventually drew 1-1, Emery reacted angrily to a passage of play by kicking a bottle into the stand towards the home supporters. Emery immediately went over to apologise to the supporter in question and did so again as soon as the final whistle sounded.
He also discussed the incident with the fourth official, Kevin Friend. The officials, including referee Anthony Taylor, did not include the incident in their match report as they felt it had been handled sufficiently by the Arsenal manager, though he could still face retrospective action by the FA. After the game, Emery said: ‘I said to them apologies because I kicked the bottle after a disappointing action for us in the last minutes. ‘It wasn’t hard, but it touched one supporter.
I said to them I’m sorry.’ Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was charged with ‘improper conduct’ after he kicked a water bottle during a game against West Ham in November 2016 and he was handed a one-match touchline ban for his antics.
An independent comission ruled that he ‘aggressively kicked the bottle in a manner that could have endangered people around him regardless of the motivation to do so,’ and Emery may face a similar punishment.
Nevertheless, Emery’s remorse immediate afterwards could at least limit the severity of the sanctions, should the FA deem his actions to be worthy of an improper conduct charge. Emery’s disappointment was understandable given Arsenal squandered a 1-0 lead handed to them by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 13th league goal of the season. A defensive mix-up allowed Jurgen Locadia to equalise for the hosts.
The Spaniard’s tactical decisions were also questioned after he replaced Mesut Ozil at half-time and Alexandre Lacazette midway through the second half with Arsenal chasing a second goal.
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