Mikel Arteta says Arsenal have had discussions over their recent red-card record, but Saturday’s sending-off was difficult to legislate for.
Just eight games into the Premier League season, Arsenal have already had to deal with three red cards, leading to two draws and one defeat.
The dismissals have been a particular topic among Arsenal fans because those are the only three games the Gunners haven’t won in the league in 2024/25.
Arsenal were beating Brighton before Declan Rice’s red card, but they drew the game after. They were beating City before Leandro Trossard’s red, but drew after. And they were drawing with Bournemouth before William Saliba’s, but went on to lose.
Following Saliba’s sending-off, Mikel Arteta was asked about how the team address the issue of having so many red cards in such a short space of time.
“There are things that we have discussed in relation to certain topics,” Arteta responded.
“[But] what happens today is almost unpredictable – that the winger is going to play the ball to the centre back one touch, and it’s going to be a challenge there with 40 or 35 meters to go.
“Very difficult to plan it. But certainly we need to play with 11 versus 11 if we want to be in the position that we want to be.”
Even though both seemed harsh at the time, you could argue that the Rice and Trossard red cards could have been avoided with a change in approach from Arsenal.
If you completely ignore the ball after the whistle, it’s hard to get sent off for delaying the restart.
Saliba’s situation was different, because there’s no avoiding scenarios where your defender has to track back and try to prevent a counter-attack.
That’s just a hazard of the job, and sometimes the defender will get it wrong.
