William Saliba brought down Bournemouth striker Evanilson on a clear-cut chance during Arsenal’s disappointing 2-0 loss at the hands of Bournemouth leading some to question, do the Gunners have a discipline problem? The questions arise as Saliba will now miss Arsenal’s clash against Liverpool this Sunday where to keep their early season title hopes alive, they must win at all costs. This will reduce the gap to 1 point between the two and keep the Gunners within pouncing distance of Manchester City. However, missing the likes of Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and Thomas Partey Arsenal will require the game of their lives to cause an upset over Arne Slot’s Reds, who look to continue their momentum and head to the top of the Premier League. The media and pundits all look towards Mikel Arteta for his seeming “dark arts” that have helped Arsenal to see out more games, but at the cost of losing players for unnecessary reasons.
The questions arise as Saliba will now miss Arsenal’s clash against Liverpool this Sunday where to keep their early season title hopes alive, they must win at all costs.
Declan Rice was the first player to be sent off this season for a combination of a poorly timed tackle and then kicking the ball away from Brighton’s Lewis Dunk over a mistakenly taken free kick, resulting in Rice missing their next victory away at Tottenham Hotspur. Leandro Trossard was the second player to be sent off for yet again kicking the ball away during Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at the Etihad against Manchester City. Finally, William Saliba’s clumsy challenge against Evanilson after a poor pass from Trossard, resulted in Saliba taking the man out completely, being shown his first ever red card and will now miss the Gunner’s next three matches.
Mikel Arteta claims that the red cards were unjustified and that there were reasons for his players acting in the ways that they did, but from an unbiased perspective the actions of the players were foolish and cost their team valuable points. Which over the season could be a contributing factor if the Gunners are to go trophy less for yet another season. Arsenal have never been considered a reckless team with only an average of 2.6 red cards a season from the years 2011 to 2017. Since Arteta has taken over, this average has jumped up to a staggering 5.2 average a season, leading people to believe that Arteta’s tactics are the reason for this jump.
It will be interesting to see how the Gunners will react to these red cards and see if there are any changes in their tempo and playstyle. But for now they will have a mountain to climb when they face Liverpool on Sunday and if they are to lose the game, would Saliba have been Liverpool’s benefactor or downfall?
