Richarlison slams ‘disrespectful’ Ramsdale but apologises to another Arsenal star
Richarlison claims Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was “disrespectful” to Tottenham fans during the north London derby.
Police are making enquiries after a Spurs fan jumped onto the advertising board and kicked Ramsdale during ugly scenes at the end of an entertaining derby match.
Arsenal won the match 2-0 with a Hugo Lloris own goal and a Martin Odegaard long-range strike giving them the three points and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Ramsdale turned to the Tottenham supporters at the end of the game to kiss the Arsenal badge and celebrate but Richarlison took issue with that and pushed Ramsdale in the side of the face.
“What I really didn’t like was their goalkeeper going to celebrate in front of our fans,” Richarlison told ESPN Brasil.
“It’s kind of disrespectful to our fans, he has their fans, he has to go celebrate with their fans, not be cute with our fans.”
Another video emerged during the game of Richarlison refusing to fist bump Gabriel Martinelli as his Brazil team-mate went over to take a corner.
It came after Martinelli was involved in a verbal altercation with Richarlison in which the Tottenham substitute accused the Arsenal winger of diving.
“It was a foul there that the referee ended up giving, we were close to the move, in my opinion it wasn’t, I told him he was diving a lot, so I didn’t shake his hand.
“I’m apologising to him. Like it or not, he’s my teammate. It’s part of the game, it’s a derby, we were hot headed.
“With Gabriel [Magalhaes], we argued a little because I wanted to get on with the game.
“He ended up getting yellow, and I said to him, ‘let’s play, let’s play’. I told him they were stopping play all the time, it’s part of the game.”
Mikel Arteta would not be drawn on the incident involving Richarlison and Ramsdale at full-time but did stress the importance of his Arsenal players keeping their heads in big occasions.
“To have the emotional control in these occasions is extremely important,” Arteta said.
“It’s something that we discussed in the week. They are young and they start to believe more and more and they start to have these experiences.
“There is nothing better than winning and playing the way we played. It’s great and going in the dressing room and just feeling the joy and the togetherness around the team and how much it meant for them is special.
“We know that we are here because of the way we play and the way that we are and the way that we live together and the unity that we have.
“We must not forget that because tomorrow we have to do the same and we have to do exactly the same to carry on the form that we have at the moment.”