Unai Emery resisted severely punishing the Arsenal stars caught inhaling hippy crack

The Gunners boss has taken a dim view of the scandal exposed by The Sun yesterday.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac and Matteo Guendouzi were pictured taking nitrous oxide balloons at a swanky West London nightclub.

The boozy night out happened as players bonded just before the start of the Premier League campaign — but a mid-season binge would have been more of a concern to Emery.

An Arsenal statement said: “The players will be spoken to about this — and reminded  of their responsibilities as representatives of the club.”

Ozil has a back problem and will miss Saturday's clash against struggling Huddersfield at the Emirates.


But Premier League top scorer Aubameyang is set to start – with Lacazette, Kolasinac and Guendouzi in the squad.

England stars Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker have also been caught using ‘hippy crack’, which is  not illegal to possess.

Gunners legend Perry Groves has defended the Arsenal players caught up in the scandal.

The 53-year-old was a member of the infamous ‘Tuesday Club’ in the 1990s — when players met up for   marathon booze sessions.

Paul Merson, Lee Dixon, Tony Adams and Steve Bould were also part of the gang, with boss George Graham turning a blind eye to their antics.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Groves said: “I’d rather they take a little bit of gas out of a balloon than have 15-pint benders like we used to.

“Also, this wasn’t in public,  this was a private room they’ve hired.

“So their privacy has been breached if someone from that establishment sold the CCTV footage.

“The thing that amazes me is that apparently Ozil was involved.

“You can understand  if some of the younger players were involved — but the older ones?

“But, then again, when we were 29 or 30 we were with the younger players and our ‘Tuesday Club’ galvanised team spirit —  there was no hierarchy and no cliques.

“But this news doesn’t outrage me at all to be fair.  To me, it seems like it’s quite innocent.”


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