It's not the kind of record you like to announce, but it counts as a record nonetheless. In football there is such a thing as red cards, that instantly ejects the offender out of the game and Arsenal has now made a mark here.
It was on New Year's day and the opponent was the high flying Manchester City. Arsenal scored first, in a match they dominated for large swathes, against a City side that was actually fatigued having played a difficult match against Brentford only two and half days back,while the Gunners' last match against Norwich,was about seven days back.
Be that as it may, Arsenal were clearly the better team in this match, but in controversial circumstances narrowly lost to City 2–1 at the Emirates. Part of the reason behind this loss was the sending off(2 yellow cards in quick succession) of Brazilian defender Gabriel Magalhaes, on the hour-mark. This inadvertently became a record.
With that red card Arsenal became the first team in the history of the English Premier League to have amassed 100 red cards. Also, it must be noted that under Mikel Arteta they have become better at 'chasing' red cards.
Now, obviously ahead of the game Arsenal stood at 99 red cards, same with Everton. Newcastle was third with 90, Chelsea fourth with 82 and West Ham fifth with 77.
On Arteta's reign, when he took over in December 2019, the Gunners had garnered 89 red cards, with Everton tops on 95. Now, slightly above two years in his reign, he has overseen an upsurge in red cards that Arsenal has now overtaken Everton and reached this ignoble century.
Meaning, Arteta's Arsenal has received a staggering 11 red cards. It is a disciplinary record that can be termed, shocking.
If we may view the bigger picture slightly, Brighton and Southampton sit joint-second in the red card stakes since Arteta's hiring - on just SEVEN. Followed by Manchester City and Newcastle,who have seen six red cards each and then West Ham and Aston Villa with five reds each.
We often talk of the Gunners having all guns blazing, but that's usually the beauty of their attacking play not such an unwanted card record. Indeed under Arteta their red card record has been horrendous, not that they now play nasty, but well the red cards show something– loosing your discipline in moments. Hopefully they work actively on this because Arsenal are actually known as the "soft guys" as per physicality.
cheerfully...
