Paul Doswell, the Sutton United manager, condemned the “absolute idiots” who invaded the pitch at the end of his side’s courageous FA Cup tie against Arsenal during which a bottle was also thrown at Arsène Wenger. The Arsenal manager confirmed one was thrown in his direction.

After the 2-0 victory for Arsenal, which sets up a quarter-final against another non-League side, Lincoln City, fans also stayed on the pitch and there were skirmishes, with police having to intervene. One fan appeared to be arrested for aiming a blow at another.

Of the bottle incident, Doswell said: “It would not be a Sutton fan... it would be a fan…” before adding of the scenes after the final whistle: “It disappointed me at the end. They don’t support Sutton. You know that and I know that. Absolute idiots.

“I totally get it. Unfortunately that’s the world we live in. I saw a few idiots shouting and screaming at Wenger and Arsenal players. They’ve got to be protected from those type of people. I saw some odd stuff on Twitter, what people are going to do when they got here. You saw the idiot run on the pitch (pitch-invader during the game), that was the big moment of his life. I don’t blame them, it’s way out of anything I can understand or would even want to understand. I wouldn’t want that if you gave me £1 million.”