Steve Nicol breaks down Manchester United’s first Premier League loss under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal.
Arsenal overtake Manchester United for the 4th spot in the Premier League table after beating them 2-0 at the Emirates.
Ashley Young has called on football chiefs to do more to protect players after a pitch invader confronted Manchester United teammate Chris Smalling during the defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday.
Police have confirmed a man has been arrested on suspicion of common assault and pitch invasion after the incident which occurred during the celebrations following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s penalty to make it 2-0.
It came just hours after a man was charged with assaulting Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish during their win over Birmingham at St Andrew’s.
There were two incidents involving pitch invaders during United’s 1-0 defeat to Juventus at Old Trafford in October and Young has called on the governing bodies to take action.
“What message can you put out any more? That’s the third time a fan has managed to get on the pitch — what if they are carrying something? The players will be in danger,” Young told beIN Sports.
“Whether it’s the FA, Premier League, FIFA, something’s got to be done maybe with extra stewarding or whatever.
“It’s a concern with the one earlier [Grealish] and the one with Chrissy, something has definitely go to be done.”
Arsenal issued an apology to United and Smalling on Sunday night while Smalling tweeted on Monday that “commenting would only add to the attention he [the pitch invader] craved.”
United caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was also asked about the incident during his postmatch press conference at the Emirates after watching his team lose a Premier League game for the first time since he took over from Jose Mourinho in December.
“I didn’t get to see exactly what happened but of course there shouldn’t be a place when someone runs onto a pitch, it’s not nice to see,” Solskjaer said.
“We just have to make sure we’ll play football and they can watch. It’s just one of them things you don’t want to see.”
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