Mikel Arteta felt he had no other option. The Arsenal manager watched as his right back, Ben White, got a yellow card in the first half of the Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, leading him to make a quick decision.
White had to be taken off at halftime. “We have played enough with 10 men recently,” Arteta said with a smile.
It’s becoming clear: Arsenal has a discipline issue, and this could impact their chances of winning the English Premier League title.
So far, Arsenal has had three players sent off in the first eight league matches, with yellow cards being handed out more than ever before.
This is part of a pattern under Arteta. Since he took over as manager in late 2019, Arsenal has received 18 red cards in the Premier League, which is five more than the next highest team.
It’s worth noting that the only matches where Arsenal dropped points this season— the 1-1 draw with Brighton, the 2-2 draw at Manchester City, and the 2-0 loss at Bournemouth— occurred when they had a player sent off.
“We can’t keep playing with 10 men, especially at this level. You see how much we struggled,” Arteta said this week. “We need to fix this, it’s obvious. Why or how doesn’t matter. We just need to make sure it happens.”
This change is especially important for Sunday, when Liverpool comes to Emirates Stadium for a key match in the league’s ninth round.
Liverpool is currently in first place, one point ahead of second-placed Manchester City and four points clear of third-placed Arsenal. If Liverpool wins, they would lead Arsenal by seven points, which is not impossible to overcome at this point, but it would leave Arteta’s team with little room for error.
More importantly, it would put Arsenal six points behind defending champions City, who are expected to easily beat winless Southampton on Saturday.
Arsenal’s issues with discipline come at the start of a season where, on average, there have been 5.1 yellow cards given per game, according to Opta, the league’s statistics provider. This is significantly higher than in any previous season. Last season, the average was 4.2 yellow cards per game, which was already a record, surpassing the 3.7 per game seen in the 1998-99 season.
Two of Arsenal’s red cards this season—Declan Rice against Brighton and Leandro Trossard against Manchester City—were due to players receiving two yellow cards, the second one for time-wasting by kicking the ball away. William Saliba received a straight red card against Bournemouth for fouling Evanilson near the halfway line, which was judged to be denying a clear goal-scoring chance.
Saliba, who is one of Arteta’s key defenders, will miss the match against Liverpool. Arsenal is already without their captain, Martin Odegaard (ankle injury), and might also be missing star winger Bukayo Saka (hamstring issue) and summer signing Riccardo Calafiori, who got injured against Shakhtar with a twisted knee.
Liverpool comes into the game after winning 11 of their first 12 matches in all competitions under their new manager, Arne Slot. This includes six straight away victories, setting a club record for the beginning of a season.
“Arteta has done an amazing job in the last few years,” Slot said after Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Leipzig on Wednesday. “We have to be at our best to get a result.”
