With Gabriel Martinelli given his marching orders during last night's win away at Wolves, it now means Arsenal have received 15 red cards since Mikel Arteta took charge in 2019.
However, as each red card is shown, it becomes even more apparent that these are stemmed from silly and unnecessary moments of naivety from the Arsenal players.
Arteta has previously admitted that the red card record concerns him, but last night suggested that not much more can be done to try and make his players disciplined on the pitch.
“To be fair, it’s difficult to find more arguments and more ways to transmit that to the players,” Arteta said.
“And everybody’s said that this is the most disciplined group that they have seen in the last 10-15 years but still they are getting red cards for other things.”
As questions surrounding the Gunners' red card headache surface, we at The Arsenal Way have decided to rank all 15 dismissals under Arteta, from the bizarre to the more understandable calls.
1. David Luiz vs Wolves
One that probably triggers us the most, to this day I am still lost for words. Willian Jose extends his leg to take a shot, what else is David Luiz meant to do?
It's accidental and the contact is nowhere near enough for the Wolves man to go down like a sack of potatoes. Made even more laughable by the fact Arsenal's appeal was rejected.
2. Bernd Leno vs Wolves
I mean, I'm not entirely sure what Leno was thinking here. He really didn't do himself any favours by having his arm up and moving towards the ball.
A bizarre moment that really highlights how costly a player's actions can be when they have a lapse of concentration.
3. Gabriel Martinelli vs Wolves
Wolves away...again. There's a pattern developing here! How many times have you seen a player pick up two yellow cards for separate incidents at once in the Premier League? Seriously?
I think both were a bit silly from Gabi's point of view, although the 'push' on Daniel Podence was soft. It was incredibly harsh and I'm sure it will be a long time before we see anything like it again.
4. Nicolas Pepe vs Leeds
Trying to win the ball back with a lunging tackle is one thing, casually 'headbutting' an opposition player with the ball nowhere to be seen? That's unforgivable.
Nicolas Pepe's bravado combined with Ezgjan Alioski's antagonism saw the Ivorian receive a straight red card. Unfortunately for Pepe, this proved to be the beginning of the end for him as a first-team regular under Mikel Arteta.
5. David Luiz vs Chelsea
Oh, David Luiz. The one where the concept of 'double jeopardy' came to slap the Brazilian in the behind.
With Tammy Abraham bearing down on goal and bound to score, David Luiz thought he'd sacrifice himself in heroic fashion to save Arsenal going behind early on at the Bridge?
What David didn't realise was that he'd see the red card, Arsenal would be reduced to 10 and then Jorginho would get the opportunity from 12 yards out to put Chelsea ahead anyway...
How did Arsenal fans ever cope with both him and Xhaka in the same line-up?
6. Granit Xhaka vs Burnley
When it comes to a red card greatest hits compilation, the only rival to Luiz's crown is hit-machine Granit Xhaka.
We've seen lunges, dissent and all sorts from the Swiss, but on this occasion, he simply decided to throttle Ashley Westwood by the throat during an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Burnley.
The ball is nowhere to be seen, did Xhaka really think he'd get away with it in the era of VAR?
7. Gabriel vs Man City
The Brazilian has been absolutely fantastic since joining the club, but he just lost his head with this one. Picking up an unnecessary yellow for protesting a penalty and bodychecking his fellow countryman Gabriel Jesus just moments later left the referee no choice but to show the second yellow.
Gabriel is a great defender, but he still has to control his emotions better in these scenarios. We were doing so well against the current league champions up until this point, but things soon went downhill from there.
8. Granit Xhaka vs Man City
A trip to the Etihad to face Pep Guardiola's Manchester City followed two consecutive league defeats for the third game of the 2021/22 Premier League season. A solid team performance along with cool, calm and collected heads was desperately needed.
Two goals down within the first 12 minutes was followed up by Granit Xhaka flying into a challenge on Joao Cancelo with both feet off the ground. The contact may have been minimal, but if the Swiss international thought he would get away with it, then he only has himself to blame.
Let's not talk about any more of that game...
9. David Luiz vs Man City
The first game of Project Restart, a chance for players, teams and managers to set up a fresh new narrative as pretty much the entire nation, locked at home, tuned in.
The surrealness of the day was quickly broken up by the familiar sight of a David Luiz red card. His mistake allowed City to go 1-0, before he compounded that by quickly giving away a penalty to end any glimmering hope Arsenal had.
This one had their air of inevitability around it with the only mitigating factor being that it was against a free-flowing City side.
10. Granit Xhaka vs Liverpool
We're gonna rank this one particularly low because firstly, there's an awful lot of idiocy that naturally sits above it, but also because this was in the League Cup.
It's fair to say Xhaka only had eyes for the ball on this one but there is no excusing his kung-fu kick on Diogo Jota as he beared down on goal for a one-on-one with Ramsdale.
Sixty-odd minutes to go with ten men at Anfield? Cheers, Granit.
11. Gabriel vs Southampton
This one is almost forgettable when compared to some of the outstanding idiocy on this list.
Gabriel's first real silly moment in an Arsenal shirt, it is very reminiscent of the Man City red card from New Year's Day 2022.
A second yellow four minutes after the first, a shirt tug after a naive sprint forwards on the halfway line after being turned. Where have we seen this all before!?
12. Dani Ceballos vs Villarreal
Dani Ceballos had a handful of quality moments in his two seasons as an Arsenal player, including a fine performance in an FA Cup final win, but I suspect most Arsenal fans will remember this as the abiding memory of him.
Villarreal, let's be real, were working the referee and Ceballos fell victim to it. The Spaniard dangled a leg and allowed the referee to show him a second yellow in a crucial Europa League semi-final first leg, a tie Arsenal went on to lose.
13. Eddie Nketiah vs Leicester
Another harsh one. Eddie Nketiah was only on the pitch for three minutes when he saw red for this 'high challenge' against Leicester. In slow motion, it looks bad, but in real-time it never looked like serious foul play.
This one came in the middle of that mid-pandemic VAR period when referees seemingly forgot the rules of football, so the context means it isn't as maddening as some of the entries we've already seen.
14. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang vs Crystal Palace
This is just a bad tackle, a striker's challenge if you will. Aubameyang was initially shown a yellow for what is, let's be honest, a horror tackle. That was quickly upgraded to a straight red after VAR consultation.
Can't have any complaints with this one, it's dangerous and reckless, but it's not something Aubameyang did with any regularity so it can be filed as a one-off error.
The fact Arsenal attempted to appeal the decision remains a mystery.
15. Thomas Partey vs Liverpool
Possibly the easiest to forgive on this damned list. Thomas Partey, bless him, had only just arrived back in London at 12pm that afternoon having been embarrassingly knocked out of AFCON 2022 by Comoros just days before.
Still probably reeling from the flight, Partey was thrown onto the pitch against a Liverpool team cruising at that point. Two late lunges as he tried to win back the ball saw him receive his marching orders. We'll let that one slide, Thomas.
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