Arsenal Player Was Arrested After Taking Knuckle Duster to North London Derby

A former Arsenal player says he ended up in police custody for more than 10 hours after bringing a knuckle-duster to the North London derby.

Arsenal and Tottenham will meet at the Emirates on Sunday for the 198th North London derby, a fixture that is widely renowned as one of the fiercest in Premier League history.

In fact, there were seven yellow cards in the first half of last season's fixture, the joint-most cards ever shown in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League game.

Such is the rivalry between the two clubs, former Arsenal defender Armand Traore once took a knuckle-duster to the derby in fear of being attacked.

Traore, who spent six years at Arsenal between 2005 and 2011 before joining Queens Park Rangers, was concerned after seeing another major rivalry in France.

"Coming from France, I used to go to PSG versus Marseille – and the fans there would batter each other," Traore said in 2017, as per The Mirror.

"I was only 17 and I had just started playing for Arsenal’s first-team. I had these images in my mind."

Traore challenges Aaron Lennon during a Carling Cup semi-final second leg in 2008. Image credit: Getty

Traore says he was "convinced" that a Tottenham fan might spot him, but soon realised that it was a "stupid" mistake as then-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger found out about the incident.

"I thought if a Spurs fan did, then I needed to be ready if ­something happened. So I had a knuckle-duster in my pocket — which was just stupid," he said.

"As I walked into the stadium, the police found it on me and I ended up in custody for more than 10 hours. I didn’t see a ball kicked. Eventually they released me. Then Arsene Wenger found out about it. I was just stupid."

"Young and naive. Can you imagine if ­something actually had ­happened? It would have been ­life-changing," Traore added. "I was young and I have learned my lesson. It was a stupid ­mistake."

Traore made 32 first-team appearances across a six-year spell at Arsenal. During that time, he enjoyed two loan spells at Portsmouth and Juventus, where he experienced what the rivalry was like between Juve and Napoli.

"There are some incredible rivalries in Italy. The one with Napoli was the worst," he said.

"We arrived there the day before and there were about 300 Napoli fans outside the hotel. When we left to go to the ­stadium, they were ­following us on ­mopeds and ­crashing into parked cars. It was madness."

Traore pictured during his spell at Juventus. Image credit: Getty

Traore added: "I did not feel under threat ­exactly, no. But it did make you think, ‘This is proper ­passion.’"

The former defender announced his retirement from professional football in 2020 following a brief spell at Cardiff City. His previous clubs also include Nottingham Forest and Turkish side

Caykur Rizespor.