THOMAS PARTEY’S sending off in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool was a THIRD red card for the Gunners this year – compared to just ONE goal.
Partey was shown a second yellow card just three minutes after his first, as Diogo Jota’s double ended Arsenal’s pursuit of silverware for the 2021-22 season.
It means Arsenal have now been shown three times as many red cards as they have scored goals in 2022.
The stat makes for grim reading for Gunners fans, with Bukayo Saka’s goal in the game against Manchester City on New Year’s Day the only time Mikel Arteta’s side have found the back of the net this calendar year.
By contrast, they’ve seen red on three occasions already.
Gabriel was sent off for two bookable offences in that very game, before Granit Xhaka’s moment of madness at Anfield last week.
The Swiss midfielder was shown a straight red card for a reckless waist-high challenge on Jota.
And Partey’s dismissal tonight rounds off an ill-disciplined start to 2022 for Arteta and Co.
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Partey had only arrived back in the UK from Africa Cup of Nations duty earlier in the day, having suffered an early exit at the hands of minnows Comoros.
He was introduced as a 74th-minute substitute, but didn’t last long as a lunging challenge on Fabinho earned him a second booking.
The Gunners have now failed to score in their last three games – the two Carabao Cup clashes against Liverpool, and the toothless FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest.
And Partey’s dismissal this evening takes Arsenal’s tally of red cards under Arteta to a whopping FOURTEEN.
That’s six more than any other team in the Premier League, in all competitions, since the Spaniard took over in December 2019.
Gabriel’s sending off on January 1 also helped Arsenal set the unwanted record of being the first team in the Premier League to reach 100 Prem red cards.
When Arteta took over in December 2019, the Gunners had accumulated 89 red cards, with Everton in top spot on 95.
But in a little over two years, Arsenal have raced ahead of the Toffees to reach their unwanted century, with Everton back on 99.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk