The PFA have released a statement condemning the attempted attack on Aaron Ramsdale by a Tottenham supporter at the end of the north London derby on Sunday.
Tempers boiled over at the final whistle after Arsenal’s 2-0 win over rivals Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Ramsdale at the centre of the chaos.
The Gunners keeper was quick to celebrate the victory – a win that sees Arsenal go eight points clear at the top of the Premier League – and punched the air in front of Tottenham’s Richarlison.
Ramsdale’s act of celebration didn’t go down well with the Brazilian and the England goalie was quickly ushered away back to his goal.
However, when bending down to pick up his bottle, a Tottenham supporter climbed onto the hoarding and kicked him in the back.
Before he could react to the incident, stewards swarmed around the fan to stop any further attacks on the Arsenal goalkeeper.
The PFA have reacted to the ugly confrontation and released a statement declaring attacks on players as totally unacceptable.
The statement said: ‘Violence towards players is completely unacceptable. These types of incidents are happening far too often.
‘Players have a right to be safe in their place of work. When a player is attacked we expect the laws and regulations that are in place to protect them to be properly enforced.
‘As the players’ union we treat this as a priority issue. We will be continuing to work with the authorities to demand that players and staff are better protected in their place of work.’
It was an evening to remember for Ramsdale, after pulling off a number of crucial saves in Arsenal’s win over their north London neighbours.
A Hugo Lloris blunder saw the Gunners open the scoring after 15 minutes, before Martin Odegaard doubled their lead in a dominating first half display.
Tottenham did rally in the second half, with Ramsdale denying Harry Kane either side of the break and then stopped another goal-bound effort from Ryan Sessegnon, but the win extends Arsenal’s lead over Manchester City at the top of the league after City’s defeat in the Manchester derby on Saturday.
