Police arrested a man for throwing a lighter onto the pitch during Chelsea’s FA Cup win over Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, while investigations continue into coin-throwing at visiting players.
Objects were thrown when David Faupala celebrated with City teammates in the corner of the pitch, near Chelsea fans, after scoring on his debut in the first half of a match that the hosts went on to win 5-1.
“The man was arrested for throwing a lighter onto the pitch and he currently remains in custody pending further enquires,” police said in a statement.
“Officers continue to carry out enquires into incidents of coin throwing.”
Chelsea said it will issue stadium bans and support police action if it can identify the supporters who threw coins, as the FA Cup fifth round was marred by such incidents for the second day in a row.
“We condemn such idiotic and dangerous behavior,” Chelsea’s head of communications, Steve Atkins, said. “If we can identify those responsible, then we will ban them from Stamford Bridge.
“It is worth noting it is a criminal offense, too. We will support any police prosecution if we can identify, along with the police, the individuals responsible for their behavior today.”
Chelsea’s interim manager Guus Hiddink also voiced his disapproval.
“I was aware. I can easily say ‘no, I am not aware’ – but I was aware,” Hiddink said. “I like to always face the facts.
“There were coins thrown to the Man City players in their celebration. We condemn it, I condemn it strongly and Chelsea, I think they will react. Those people, they must not come into stadiums.”
City manager Manuel Pellegrini said he did not know about the incident.
On Saturday, West Bromwich Albion captain Chris Brunt was struck in the face by a coin which was thrown by a supporter of his team after a 3-1 defeat by second tier Reading.
Brunt had gone over to applaud the fans for their support at the end of the match.
“They thought it was OK to throw a coin at their own players. I’m disgusted,” Brunt said to the BBC, with a cut clearly visible under his eye. “They paid a lot of money to come, but a small minority spoilt it.”
The English Football Association is investigating the incident involving Brunt.
