Arsenal has a red card problem and it’s hurting Mikel Arteta’s team

Thomas Partey’s red card in Thursday’s Carabao Cup semifinal defeat to Liverpool was the team’s 14th since manager Mikel Arteta took charge of the club in December 2019 — six more than any other team in the Premier League during the same period.

The Ghanaian touched down in London at lunchtime following his country’s shock early exit from the Africa Cup of Nations, allowing Arteta to name the midfielder on the bench for a home second-leg tie very much in the balance following a gritty 0-0 draw in the first-leg at Anfield.

It was a first-leg result made more valuable by the fact that the Gunners had played most of the game with 10 men, following Granit Xhaka’s straight red — the fifth of his Arsenal career — just 24 minutes into the game.

Fast forward to the Emirates on Thursday and second-half substitute Partey was dismissed in even less time — taking just 16 minutes to pick up two yellow cards and be sent off in the game’s closing stages.

Granted, Diogo Jota’s brace had rendered Partey’s exit ultimately irrelevant to the overall result — Liverpool’s safe passage to a final meeting at Wembley against Chelsea looked assured long before the Ghanaian’s dismissal — but a third red card in four matches is a glaring evidence of Arsenal’s ill-discipline.

‘We have to eradicate that completely’

It means that in 2022, Arsenal have had three times as many red cards as goals, and no wins.

Arsenal’s discipline problem is something Arteta is keen to “eradicate completely.”

“We have played the last three games with ten men and against top sides you can’t do that because we are completely exposed,” the Spaniard told reporters.

“It’s difficult enough to beat them, but with ten men it becomes a real challenge and it’s not what we need with the amount of players we have out, not to have him available.

“We have to eradicate that completely. We want to be competitive, we want to be winning matches and having a good sequence of matches again, we have to stay with 11 players.”

Teenage angst

At 24.2 years, Arsenal have the youngest average age of any starting 11 in the Premier League this season.

Following a slow start, Arteta’s young side — emboldened by the dazzling performances of academy graduates Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe — have put themselves firmly in contention for a top-four position and a long-awaited return to the Champions League.

The last time Arsenal played in the Champions League was duing the 2016/2017 season.

Youthful exuberance has rejuvenated an Arsenal side and fanbase that had at times looked bereft of hope a few years ago, but there is a corresponding argument to say that same inexperience is to blame for the current blight of red cards.

The dismissal of 24-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes during the chaotic clash against Manchester City on January 1 was a perfect encapsulation of this argument — the defender booked twice in just three minutes to put his team in the lurch after a superb first-half showing against the Premier League champion.

Gabriel’s exit left Arsenal clinging on before Rodri’s late winner for City.

On the flipside, at 28 and 29 respectively, Partey and Xhaka represent two of Arsenal’s most experienced international pros, suggesting accountability for the team’s spate of red cards falls upon both young and old members of the team.

It’s a responsibility that Partey accepts, as the Ghanian took to social media on Friday to explain his red card against Liverpool.

“[I] Am responsible for anything that happened and will take all the critiques,” Partey said.

“I should be more intelligent not to get in a challenge already booked but this is my personality. I like to fight for every ball.

“I love this club and I love my country even though things sometimes don’t happen how I wanted, I would continue to work harder to make things right.”