- Although Arteta is confident Luiz’s controversial dismissal will get overturned
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has insisted ill-discipline has cost them this season as they’ve lost valuable points due to not having 11 men on the pitch on five occasions.Advertisement
Gunners defender David Luiz was controversially sent off in their 2-1 defeat by Wolves on Tuesday night and goalkeeper Bernd Leno joined him in the dressing room in the second half after he was dismissed for handball outside the box.
Defender Gabriel, midfielder Granit Xhaka and winger Nicolas Pepe had already been sent off this campaign, meaning nine players have seen red during Arteta’s tenure at the Emirates since December 2019.
The Arsenal boss admitted he’s been left to rue not having 11 players on the field of play five times this season and warned his players that no teams at the top of the Premier League have five red cards.
‘Well, when I was worried about the discipline it was on two occasions with Nico and with Granit. We should avoid that and we talked about it,’ he said on Thursday.
‘But there are other ones that are moments in the game where in the split of a second you have to make a decision and then a referee has to make a decision as well.
‘There is much less to control on our side there. What is clear is that when you have five red cards in this period, you are going to lose a lot of points.
‘If we would have some of those points, we would be in a completely different position in the table, that’s for sure.
‘There are no teams with five reds up there at the top, it doesn’t happen.’
Luiz was sent off just before half time for denying a goal-scoring opportunity at Molineux. The Brazilian did not appear to attempt to tackle Willian Jose and the Wolves striker’s foot seemed to catch Luiz but a penalty was awarded.
Arsenal have put in appeal to overturn the dismissal due to the minimal contact and nature of the challenge and Arteta is confident they will be successful.
‘I am very hopeful, that’s why we put the appeal in because we went through all the images and we think that the red card should be overruled. That is why we put in the appeal,’ he added.
‘I don’t know how long it will take but hopefully today we will have more information. That is the latest I have from the club.’
There was no question over Leno’s sending off after the Arsenal No 1 deliberately handled the ball outside of his penalty area with Arsenal trailing 2-1.
The double sending off comes after Gabriel, Xhaka and Pepe were all dismissed last year.
Pepe was shown a red card against Leeds for a headbutt on Ezgjan Alioski with the game very much in the balance at 0-0 early on in the second half and the Gunners came away with a point from Elland Road.
Former captain Granit Xhaka was dismissed for grabbing Burnley’s Ashley Westwood around the neck before Sean Dyche’s side went onto win 1-0 at the Emirates.Advertisement
Then with a potential victory in sight against Southampton in their next match at the Emirates, having drawn level at 1-1, Gabriel picked up a second booking for pulling back Theo Walcott and the Gunners had to settle for the draw.
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