Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla apologises for expletive-chant picture with Robert Pires

Cazorla was appearing with the Gunners' legend on French TV when a fan asked for a picture posing with and infamous Arsenal chant written on a piece of paper

Jack de Menezes
Tuesday 21 January 2014 15:14 GMT
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Current Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla and former player Robert Pires pose with a female fan holding an expletive-ridden chant aimed towards Tottenham supporters
Current Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla and former player Robert Pires pose with a female fan holding an expletive-ridden chant aimed towards Tottenham supporters

Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla has apologised to Tottenham supporters following the emergence of a picture in which he appeared to mock Spurs with a well-known football chant written on a piece of paper, as he posed alongside Gunners’ legend Robert Pires and an unnamed female Arsenal fan.

The pair were appearing on French TV when the picture was taken backstage. The woman, a fan of the Premier League leaders, got Cazorla to hold the piece of paper which read the expletive-ridden chant: “What do we think of Tottenham? S***! What do we think of s***? Tottenham!”

It was unsurprising that the image posted on social media site Twitter was quickly retweeted over 1,400 times, with the Spanish international soon issuing an apology via his own official account.

“Our apoligizes to the Totenham fans, we couldn't see the paper. #alwaysfootballalwaysrespect” wrote Cazorla, with reports coming that he had been forced to apologise at the request of his club.

They are not the first Gunners to try and provoke their fierce rivals, with both Theo Walcott and Wojciech Szczesny angering them in recent weeks while Lukas Podolski claimed he would rather retire that play for Spurs.

Walcott received a barrage of coins and bottles when he teased the away fans at the Emirates by making a hand gesture to signal the 2-0 scoreline during their FA Cup encounter at the beginning of the month, while Szczesny took to his personal Facebook account to post “wonderful scenes at the Etihad…” during their 6-0 demolition at the hands of Manchester City.

Walcott was reminded of his responsibilities by the FA, though no further action was taken, while an investigation was launched following the flurry of missiles launched from the Spurs end aimed towards the England winger, who was being carried from the pitch on a stretcher having ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.

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