Arsenal fan arrested after directing laser at Chelsea's Mykhailo Mudryk

As Chelsea slumped to another defeat under interim manager Frank Lampard at the Emirates Stadium last Tuesday night on the 2nd of April. During the match, their new January signing, Mykhailo Mudryk, was subjected to a laser directed at his face by the home crowd. The 3-1 loss to Arsenal was slightly overshadowed by the incident as some of the build-ups to the game centred around Mudryk, as he was linked with a move to Arsenal in January.

Mudryk came on as a second-half substitute, replacing fellow January signing Enzo Fernandez for the remaining 20 minutes of the match. The 22-year-old's introduction on the field was met by clear boos from the Arsenal faithful and that continued for the remaining portion of the game.

A 21-year-old Arsenal fan at the Emirates Stadium was found to be the culprit of the laser flashing and the incident was condemned by Arsenal. Their club statement the following morning read: "An arrest has been made following the use of a laser during last night's match. This behaviour is dangerous and totally unacceptable, and we will fully support the police with their enquiries. We will obviously take the strongest possible action."

The Metropolitan Police confirmed the details of the arrest, saying in a statement: "A 21-year-old man was arrested at the Emirates Stadium during the Arsenal v Chelsea match on 2 May on suspicion of a public order offence. He has been taken into custody."

Lasers directed by supporters at football players is a fairly common matter, given that down the years it has occurred numerous times, including in high-stake situations of matches. Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah faced plenty of laser beams directed at him when his country faced Senegal in a World Cup play-off match in March 2022.

The lasers were directed at Salah whilst he was taking a penalty in a shoot-out to decide who would make the World Cup. Likely distracted by the lasers, he blazed his penalty over the crossbar and his country lost, missing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Also, the European Championship semi-finals in 2021 saw Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel subjected to a laser pointer whilst he was preparing to face a penalty against England at Wembley Stadium. He still saved the initial penalty from Harry Kane, despite the laser troubles, however, Kane bundled in the rebound to knock Denmark out.

Mudryk has already had a tough time at Chelsea since arriving from Shakhtar Donetsk as he has failed to score a single goal yet and has only registered two assists. Part of his struggles mostly boils down to Chelsea's shortcomings this season as the West London club have endured a miserable season, currently sitting in 11th place in the Premier League.

Matters may have been very different for Mudryk if he had joined the red side of London and transferred to Mikel Arteta's team instead of Chelsea. Arsenal were strongly linked to Mudryk for months, with the Ukraine international reportedly holding talks with Arteta.

However, despite making multiple bids for Mudryk, they were deemed too low by Shakhtar Donetsk and Chelsea swooped in to sign him for £88.5 million. Arsenal chose to go for a much cheaper alternative as they signed Leandro Trossard from Brighton and Hove Albion for roughly £25 million.

That turned out to be an excellent decision from Arsenal as Trossard has so far put in impressive displays and has scored one goal plus registered eight assists. This included getting all three assists in a 3-0 away win against Fulham.

The laser directed at Mudryk was not the only criminal incident at the game on Tuesday as four arrests were made in relation to ticket touting and breaches of football banning orders. The Metropolitan Police stated, "As the result of an anti-ticket touting operation before the Arsenal v Chelsea match, three men were arrested on suspicion of ticket touting and one man arrested on suspicion of breaching his football banning order. They were taken into custody."