The FA launch an investigation into bottle throwing by Arsenal fans at De Bruyne

The FA are investigating an incident between Kevin de Bruyne and Arsenal fans during Manchester City’s win against the Emirates on Wednesday night, in which the Belgian was hit by bottles as he left the pitch.

De Bruyne opened the scoring as City inflicted a 3-1 defeat on their Premier League title rivals, before also being involved in a brief altercation on the sideline with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
The midfielder was met with hostility from Gunners fans when he was taken off the pitch in the latter stages of the game, with the home crowd hurling bottles at him as he crossed the pitch to the bench.

In light of the incident, Arsenal are now the subject of an investigation by the FA and will impose stiff penalties on fans found guilty of throwing objects at De Bruyne on Wednesday night.

Despite this, De Bruyne seemed to see the funny side of his heated encounter with Arsenal fans, with the 31-year-old glancing at them and gesturing as he walked onto the pitch. Shortly before half-time, the Gunners equalized from the penalty spot, Bukayo Saka coolly taking his penalty to make it 1-1.
However, City then made it 2-1 through Jack Grealish after the guest attack made another defensive error.

And De Bruyne then became the assist for Erling Haaland’s 26th of the season to make it 3-1 that night, cutting the ball into the box for the Norwegian striker to take the game past Arsenal in the final stages.

He was also involved in a heated argument with Arteta which clearly made him an unpopular figure at the Emirates.

As the ball widened for a touchline throw, Arteta appeared to let the ball slip past him, impeding De Bruyne’s approach to collect it with the score at 1-1. De Bruyne was clearly outraged by the Gunners manager, who shoved him as he tried to recover the ball and extended a finger to warn the Spaniard.

Arteta and De Bruyne spent two-and-a-half years together at the Etihad while the former was assistant coach to Guardiola and won two Premier League titles and an FA Cup.