MIKEL ARTETA has told his Arsenal stars not to blame referees over their shocking disciplinary record.
The Gunners have received the MOST red cards in the Premier League since Arteta took over – despite committing the second fewest fouls.
Gabriel Martinelli became the 15th player sent off during Arteta’s reign in the recent win at Wolves.
That is SEVEN more than the next club to them in the disciplinary table.
The forward received two bookings in the space of five seconds and is suspended for the clash with Brentford tomorrow.
Arteta has revealed that he has not spoken to the PGMOL about the decisions they feel have gone against them – but admitted discussions would happen shortly.
Although he insists that they need to look at themselves rather than the officials to clean up their act.
ON the PGMOL talks, Arteta said: “Not yet. That’s happening soon but obviously we have reported the opinion and the lack of understanding of the decision.”
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Arteta reminded his players that they cannot continue collecting reds and hopes they have not earned themselves a reputation for being ill-disciplined.
He added: “I don’t want to think like that.
“There have been various reasons, very different ones the way we picked up those red cards but somehow we have to stop it because it’s going to affect your performance and results for sure and that has to be our aim and our focus.
“Don’t try to blame the refs. We have to believe the refs are going to do what they have to do and we have to do what we have to do and that’s it.”
However, Arteta did admit he still had not changed his view that the Martinelli incident did not warrant a sending-off.
“I have so many videos that people have sent me [from] over the years with different actions and how it happened.
“I gave my opinion at the end of the match and there is nothing we can do about it now.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk