Arsenal’s red mist threatens to derail title tilt before crunch Liverpool clash

If Mikel Arteta needs solace regarding his team’s poor disciplinary record this season the Arsenal manager could look back to the Arsène Wenger era. The Frenchman – who celebrated his 75th birthday this week – is remembered for his revolutionary approach to fitness and player nutrition that spelled the end for the infamous Tuesday drinking club. Yet each of the three Premier League titles he won featured at least three Arsenal red cards as they retained the fighting spirit associated with George Graham’s championship winning sides.

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When Martin Keown was sent off against Derby on 29 September 2001 for two yellow cards – the first, Declan Rice take note, for “preventing a quick free-kick” – he was the third Arsenal player dismissed only seven matches into the league campaign. Arteta’s team haven’t quite matched that, but William Saliba’s red card in the defeat against Bournemouth in their eighth league match last weekend continued their record of dropping points this season only when reduced to 10 men.

Since Arteta’s first game in charge on Boxing Day 2019, Arsenal have been shown 18 red cards in the Premier League – at least five more than any other side. It is an issue that has taken on increased significance before Sunday’s showdown at home against Liverpool given the absence of Saliba. It is a game Arsenal cannot afford to lose when they are four points behind Arne Slot’s side in the table. Arteta could not hide his frustration about the consequences of the France defender’s dismissal at Bournemouth and admitted before the laboured 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday that he was at a loss about how to deal with his team’s bad habit. “The most ­effective way, I have to be very ­honest, is not talking about it,” he said.

Arsenal’s desperation to finish the job after being runners-up to Manchester City for the past two seasons has not been betrayed by indiscipline alone. The victory over Wolves on the opening day was the only home league fixture they have won comfortably. They were held by Brighton following Rice’s needless red card just after half-time and required late goals to beat Leicester and Southampton. The unavailability of Martin Ødegaard has not helped, a lack of creativity in midfield exposed badly since the captain’s ankle injury.

At least Bukayo Saka, who was an ever-present in 2020-21 and 2021‑22 and missed only three league games last season but sat out the defeat at Bournemouth with a hamstring injury, could be back to face a team who have won their six away matches in all competitions this season. A victory over Liverpool would get things back on track, and Arteta knows that they cannot afford to keep making the same mistakes. Wenger’s 2002 double winners ended with six red cards in the league but not since Leicester won the title in 2016 have a club picked up more than two and finished top.

There is another comparison to Wenger that Arteta will not want to hear. Thursday marked the 20th anniversary of the so-called Battle of the Buffet when Arsenal’s record 49-match unbeaten run was ended by Manchester United at Old Trafford. The fallout from that fiery game, when Cesc Fàbregas threw pizza at United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson, lingered three months later when the sides met at Highbury, with Wenger furiously defending his side’s disciplinary record in the face of criticism from his old foe. “You should worry about the other teams,” he said. “We are not angels, but statistically there is no reason to worry about us. We are the fairest team in the league.”

That proved to be a sideshow, with Arsenal finishing 12 points behind Chelsea as runners-up, as the balance of power swung to west London. But José Mourinho’s withering assessment in 2007 of Wenger’s failure to follow up what remains their most recent league title three years earlier should perhaps concern Arteta. “Arsenal have great boys,” he said in a quote that resurfaced this week in reference to the current side. “Absolutely brilliant young boys, manager top, team with a great future. But they didn’t win.”

Despite Arsenal’s undoubted progress in the past two campaigns, their squad remains one of the youngest in the division with an average age of 25.6 and – the theory goes – should be expected to keep improving. Things are never quite that simple, however, and there is a feeling among many supporters that this could be the best chance to end the club’s title wait given the expected absence of City’s midfield general Rodri for the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

That doesn’t factor in the possibility this could be Pep Guardiola’s final season in charge of their biggest rivals and that Arsenal would be strong contenders to usurp City if he leaves given their progress recently.

More immediately, Arteta must decide how to fix the hole in central defence created by Saliba’s suspension, with Ben White expected to move across from right-back despite being withdrawn at half-time against Shakhtar after picking up a booking. “We have played enough with 10 men in the recent period,” Arteta said.

Arsenal have conceded two goals in three of their past four league games, after doing so twice in their previous 22 matches, and their makeshift defence will be wary of a Liverpool side that have won 11 of their 12 games this season.

“When we have difficulties we still are better than the opponent – that’s the objective for the team,” said Arteta before Arsenal’s game against United in pre-season on their tour of the US, when he admitted the only way to guarantee winning the league was to win all 38 games. That was never a realistic prospect, even after they came within a point last season of matching the club’s points record set in the Invincible season of 2003‑04, but Arsenal will be itching to prove they are in it for the long run again after being blown off course by Bournemouth.