Manchester City introduce new Etihad Stadium safety measures ahead of Arsenal visit

Manchester City will introduce a series of new safety measures for Arsenal’s visit to the Etihad Stadium on Friday night after recent incidents of crowd trouble at the Etihad Stadium.

Wins against Liverpool and Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and Emirates FA Cup respectively were marred by incidents of crowd trouble in the South Stand at the Etihad Stadium, as Manchester City fans questioned the club’s decision to house away supporters in the top two tiers.

In December, a 15 year-old City supporter needed to have her head glued back together after being struck by a pint cup ‘weighted down by coins’ which was thrown by travelling Liverpool supporters.

A City fan was also struck by a missile thrown by a Chelsea supporter in the 4-0 third round win earlier this month, as the Blues set up a fourth round tie against current Premier League leaders Arsenal.

The 7,800 Gunners fans who are travelling to East Manchester on Friday night will still be housed in the upper two tiers of the South Stand after the Safety Advisory Group deemed it the safest configuration, according to a new report by the MEN.

Simon Bajkowksi revealed that the club have however introduced a series of new measures in an attempt to avoid a repeat of previous incident ahead of Friday’s FA Cup clash.

Additional measures will include covers over the first four rows of seats in the second tier, extra stewards, and paper cups replacing plastic cups for those sections.

Friday’s FA Cup clash will be the first meeting between the Premier League’s top two teams this season, with City and Arsenal not meeting in the league until next month.

Arsenal’s only win in any of the last 13 meetings between the two teams came in the FA Cup in 2020, with Mikel Arteta’s side winless in their last five straight matches against the Blues.

City thrashed Chelsea to qualify for the fourth round while Arsenal comfortably overcame Oxford United of League One.